EP Review: Zach Kinney
ADPTD debuts with her new EP, Bedroom Walls. This seven track collection is sure to fit any playlist; with influences in genres like pop-punk, rock, hardcore, and emo. Make sure to add February 25th to your calendars to stream this awesome EP!
Coward (feat. JONO) features very prominent and heavy drums that get you pumped. It’s perfect for the gym or anywhere else you need some motivation. The lyrics really open up, delving into a sensitive subject: that of opening up and falling for someone, but the feelings not being mutual. In the chorus the lyrics, “Three words that made me a coward, the same three that you couldn’t feel,” especially show this as it pushes so much emotion in this one singular line alone. The guitar line in the verses is one of the highlights on the album. It’s a perfect counter melody to the vocal line, and paired with the drums over an amazing instrumental to mesh with the powerful vocals ADPTD has to offer.
The next track, Personal, has instrumentals seemingly inspired by pop punk that seamlessly transitions into the chorus- which punches hard. As for the vocals, it’s a melody that is certainly going to be a perfect song for a crowd to sing along with. We would love to catch a show so we can see first hand how the audience reacts. Even while currently writing this, the desire to want to jump around the room and sing along to the song is overwhelming! It will for sure be a crowd pleaser!
By far the song with our favorite intro on this album is Stay. It jumps straight in with a pop, with the guitar matching the drums to give it a percussive nature and add to the emphasis. The first chorus has the song's feature, WALWIN, jump in and harmonize with ADPTD, adding so much depth to an already full sounding song. From there he sticks around for the second verse and the rest of the song- which we personally love when artists do this with features, because it creates a layering to let the song progress between verses without messing with the instrumentals. Layering instruments between verses can still be really cool, but sometimes it makes the sound empty at first. Progressively layering the vocals fights that loss and adds so much more!
Next up is the title track of the EP, Bedroom Walls. This is one of those songs where it helps you calm down when you’re really upset. The lyrics “Somehow, I feel like I’ve let you down,” are repeated throughout the song- especially in the chorus where it’s heavily emphasized. This is one of those songs where it gets you to SCREAM along. Everyone has felt these powerful emotions at one point or another, and Bedroom Walls condensed them into a song perfectly. On top of the song individually, we think picking this song to share a title with the EP was perfect as the EP itself has a huge focus on mental health and those upsetting nights we all have.
Our personal favorite track on the album is Scared. The song is the first on the EP to feature ADPTD screaming! She eases between clean and distorted vocals so seamlessly, and this song really shows off her talent. The guitar in the verses swaps back and forth with her as well. In the first verse, it goes from a melodic clean tone to a percussive and slamming distorted tone when she screams. It offers so much variety, but doesn’t feel out of place. At the end of the first verse, the instrumentals drop to just a palm muted guitar, and the lyrics, “Let me say,” are sung as a transition to the chorus- which hits hard immediately after. In a live scenario, we could see this song fitting the iconic troupe many artists use. The instrumentals drop to a quieter or muted sound that is often repeated, then the artist gives a short speech- only for the transition lyric that tells the audience to make the ground shake! This song would be perfect to fit that, and would for sure be a great closer in a live performance.
Revive the Soul is a fairly experimental song. The vocals in the verse are some of the most clean and the instrumentals are much more electronic sounding with a heavy focus on reverb and delay. This is contrasted with the chorus. The vocals are some of the most compressed on the EP, and the guitars are heavy and punchy. Another cool thing is that the drums are back to their normal heavy sound, but they sound more raw and it is great! The second verse has the guitar stay relatively punchy and ADPTD screams here. The bridge experiments with looping on the vocals, adding something every 2-4 measures. ADPTD plays around a lot in this song, but the finished product is something that really meshes well!
The final track on the EP is Believe it Or Not. This track is a more ballad-like song. The chorus has many beautiful lines like, “If I’m losing sight then show me how,” and, “the faith in me is all I got.” It’s a very beautiful love note to the faith she holds, and while there are some lyrics that point towards Christianity specifically, like “Dressed up in my Sunday’s best,” the overall set of lyrics can be universally applied to many religions; allowing for listeners who may not believe exactly the same to still relate and feel the beauty of the song. It’s the perfect mix of making the song for you, and making the song appealing for the many groups of listeners. Even with religion aside, lyrics like, “If you’re reaching out then reach out to me, the feelings hold and heal me,” can be applied to non-religious things, such as music itself, that can still empower and gives hope to listeners.
Bedroom Walls is definitely a must listen. It covers so many topics in such a short period of time, and gets you hooked on your first listen! Several of these songs are going on our playlist, and we're certainly returning for cover-to-cover listenings every once in a while. If you want to experience this awesome EP for yourself, it is out February 25th via Rad-pop. Records. Make sure to listen and let us know what you think!