A.D.A.M. - Everybody Wants To Be Like Mary

What started as a monthly meetup between two musician friends to swap tunes has taken
on a life of its own. Over a decade ago Scottish instrumentalists and composers Mairearad
Green and Mike Vass agreed to get together once a month to play and write music together.
That spawned 2017’s A Day A Month, the title of which has been slimmed down to new duo
name A.D.A.M for the release of new album Everybody Wants To Be Like Mary.

The material on it comes from traditional Gaelic songs and canntaireachd melodies used to
orally transmit bagpipe tunes, as are the gnomic three letter track names. Whereas their
first was a largely as-it-comes collection of trad tunes on accordion, guitar and fiddle with
minimal embellishment, their latest effort is a different beast altogether.

This is clear enough from the blast of arpeggiated synth that forms the opening notes of first
track IOM before the bracing bagpipe tune comes in over the top. Over the following eight
tracks, the duo get to explore the outer reaches of their creativity, matching centuries-old
tunes mainly played by Green on pipes with a variety of electronic styles, often sampling,
processing and chopping up the sound of her playing to form an extra layer of the backing.

What’s impressive is how they somehow make it work, springing plenty of unlikely
combinations of tunes and riffs on the listener. For instance AN_ kicks off with frenetic
double time synth and glitchy percussion before a placid piano waltz comes in over the top,
while the insistent thud of kick and drum on jig DHE balances nicely with the sweet and
reedy smallpipes.

The steady and minimal tunes balance out nicely with the often busy backing tracks, which
often feature extended intros and outros for the pads and loops to flutter away.
Occasionally the more atonal noises in the background feel slightly overcooked and detract
from the clarity of the traditional melodies, played with a confident musicality by Green.

Everybody Wants To Be Like Mary closes with the duo’s take on the song Uamh an Oir -
Cave of Gold. An appropriate title from the latest composers to mine the rich vein of
Scottish trad-electronica and come up clutching treasure.