Single Selection: Adam Tyler ~ Concrete

Much like Alexandra Burke's Elephant or (to a lesser extent) Roxette's Milk & Toast & Honey, Concrete is not the most obvious song title you'll ever come across. However, much like Elephant and Milk & Toast & Honey it's uniqueness works in it's favour - leaving you gasping at the audacity & positively gagging for more. In Concrete, Adam Tyler has created a swirling, evocative dance smash that tantalises the senses & inveigles it's way into your synapses, ensuring that it's beat, melody and hook are firmly embedded in your brain by the end of your first listen. Lyrically, it's quite a downbeat tale of how young Adam rejects the game of love, burned too many times and now hardened on the inside (in fact, when described like that it occurs to me that it would make a lovely ballad - piano and vocal, bringing out the true wistful nature of the song). Musically though, it's given a dark, sinister feel with a simmering beat and computer generated sound effects, wooshing in and out like Dementors at a Quidditch game. Adam's down and dirty vocal, tapping into his lower register, in the verses feeds into this atmosphere, giving the song a frisson of energy & anticipation of what's to come. These verses serve as exquisite teasers to the euphoric pay off of the chorus - because when Adam soars, he really soars and gives us genuine pop giddiness. His voice emerges from the vocoder verses with a pure, unfiltered passion, fuelling the song to new heights as he preaches "Love is not a game/it's just a word to me", surrounding himself with magical synth riffs that sparkle like the brightest star amidst the dark. It's not just singing, it's clever song construction and performance to get the very best from the lyrics and make them even more vivid & tangible. The video montage of Adam's shows & videos to date is a testament of how far he has come since he writhed around the desert all nudey rudey in Friction - and Concrete is a culmination of all those achievements to date. If you've not got your ticket already, get on board the Adam Tyler train now ready for his new EP out this autumn / fall. Because when the Applause for Roar has died down, you'll be wanting something more Concrete...