Adam Gibson continues the next chapter in his storied career with the release of his latest single 'Trivia Night,' as well as "Cities Of Spinifex" – his latest album with band The Ark-Ark Birds.
'Trivia Night' might be Gibson's most personal song to date – an impressive accomplishment for a man whose heart-on-his-sleeve lyricism has become his widely recognised signature. The song is waltzing, folky ballad that details Gibson's memories of some of his favourite times spent with longtime friend and confidante, the late and famed Australian columnist, Sam De Brito.
As its name suggests, the song shares glimpses of the time the two spent together competing in the great tradition of pub trivia, and the surprising memories you cherish after loss.
"It's a song essentially about friendship and how it's the small moments you remember when those friends are no longer around," says Adam. "I wasn't looking at a glib sentimentality, but more the sense that when someone dies, it's those moments that take on great importance. It's basically a celebration of those times and of things such as dumb trivia nights in wintertime when the world isn't changed but which are just as important as if it was."
It's the second song to be released from the album, after the eight-minute opus 'Belanglo, Byron and the Road Between' was premiered by Rolling Stone late last year, and delved into Gibson's chilling recollections of his life as a young crime beat reporter covering a story that would end up being linked to the horrific backpacker murders of the early '90s.
Cities of Spinifex follows on from the acclaimed 2015 album Australia Restless and Adam’s lauded records with former bands The Aerial Maps and Modern Giant.
The album is an aural feast - a panorama of songs and stories about landscape, travel and people, about spaces and places. Written during an intense period of personal change and flux for Adam and the band, Cities of Spinifex is a sprawling grab-bag of visions and sights, of memory and experience – of Australia and beyond.
“A lot of challenging things happened in the period immediately before we recorded this album and I wanted to capture that sense flux on the record,” says Adam. “We recorded it as quickly as possible to try to grab that sense of uncertainty and rawness.”
Long-noted for the forensic detail embedded in his songs, on Cites of Spinifex Gibson takes this even a step further, naming names and delving into personal history. He again Investigates various shades of the Australian experience, telling stories in a voice that is as distinct as it is universal. Loves, lives and loss …the cities and towns and spinifex grass and the black miles of bitumen road linking them all.
credits
released April 7, 2017
'Cities of Spinifex' is dedicated to the memory of Sam de Brito
Recorded, engineered and mixed by Russel Pilling at Damien Gerard Studios, Sydney, May 2016 – October 2016.
Produced by Adam Gibson, Tim Byron and Simon Gibson
Credits:
Trivia Night (Adam Gibson/Simon Gibson)
Roadkill and Roadhouses (A. Gibson/Simon Holmes/Tim Byron/Shane Angus/Stewart Cahn/Darren "Fudd" Robertson)
Indian-Pacific (A. Gibson/S. Holmes/T. Byron/S.Gibson)
The Torn Apart Town (A. Gibson)
Western Circus Waltz (A. Gibson/Jadey O'Regan)
Beautiful Era – (A. Gibson/T.Byron)
Dead Europe (Find my Way Home) (A. Gibson/S. Holmes/T. Byron)
Hey Southerly Buster (A. Gibson/S. Cahn/T. Byron/S. Angus/S. Gibson)
The Yagan Monster (A. Gibson/S. Angus/S. Cahn/T. Byron/S. Gibson)
Belanglo, Byron and the Road Between (A. Gibson/S. Gibson)
Adam Gibson – lead vocals on all tracks, bass, backing vocals
Alannah Russack – backing vocals
Darren "Fudd" Robertson – drums
Jadey O’Regan – piano, synth, backing vocals
Pete Colquhoun – backing vocals
Robin Dixon - Euphonella Phonofiddle, esraj and Appalachian dulcimer
Shane Angus – guitar, backing vocals
Simon Gibson – drums, guitar
Simon Holmes - guitar
Stewart "Bluey" Cahn – guitar, backing vocals
Tim Byron – piano, electric piano, organ, bass, harmonium backing vocals
Cover art by Ash Oswald
Thanks to Simon Gibson and Joan Gibson
The things that I know … loves, lives and loss … cities and towns and spinifex grass and the black miles of bitumen road linking them all…
Adam Gibson is a Sydney writer, performer, lyricist, musician and artist.
His work is
fundamentally “Australian landscape-based”, being influenced by the land and travel and the sense of being “in” and/or part of different environments, and the stories of the people who inhabit such land, with Australian stories and language and vernacular turn of phrase being very important....more
supported by 16 fans who also own “Cities of Spinifex”
There has not been a better song written about faulty head gaskets and the infamous Foam Booth store on Cleveland St, Surry Hills. Adam Gibson is a modern giant in the Sydney music scene. Cheers to the pacific, cheers to The Aerial Maps. Steve Moore
supported by 11 fans who also own “Cities of Spinifex”
So much talent on here telling some woeful stories from Tassie's shameful penal history. Glenn Richards, Ben Salter, Adam Gibson, Tim Rogers... Totally immersive listen with every track a gem Richard Graham
Recorded on the Grecian isle of Hydra, this is blissed-out psych pop with stacked falsetto harmonies and luscious arrangements. Bandcamp New & Notable Apr 9, 2023
Two dozen 12-string acoustic improvisations that feel undeniably haunting, like lost transmissions from ancient Appalachia, rediscovered. Bandcamp New & Notable Oct 17, 2022