Singer Tod Lippy released single “Adam’, ahead of his forthcoming covers album. ‘Adam’ is a cover of one of Tod’s favourite songs of the past decade, a bonus track on (Sandy) Alex G’s 2012 album Trick. The original song is a propulsive, vaguely ominous take on a child bully’s obsession with his victim, which Tod turns into a poignant ballad about obsessive love.
“There is something tragic about someone being so tied up in knots psychologically that they are compelled to torture the person they love”, says Tod. “My goal with the cover was to hone in on the sadness and to a certain extent queerness of that situation by reinterpreting the original track almost as a lament, with a beautiful cello riff contributed by Serafim Smigelskiy (Tesla Quartet)”.
The music video for ‘Adam’ takes one short sequence from a 1952 educational film called ‘The Bully’ and then repeats it as a sort of visual mantra, meant to evoke the obsessive nature of the abuser’s attachment to his victim. With the visual, Tod also gives props to structural filmmakers like Michael Snow, Bette Gordon, and Peter Kubelka.
Tod has consistently covered other musicians’ songs in the past—his earlier covers have included memorable takes on tracks as diverse as Book of Love’s ‘Boy’ and Bing Crosby’s ‘Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams’ and the single release of ‘Adam’ sets the path for the release of his first album consisting solely of covers.
Adam was released in August.
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