The Witzard Premiere: WEEKENDS Multi-instrumentalist Adam Lempel Tunes AM Rock Radio to Folky Indie Rockin' "Don't Know Why" (Friends Records)
"
Adam Lempel
started making solo records as a departure from his work in
Baltimore Noise Rockers WEEKENDS
. Focusing more on songwriting and heartfelt lyrics, his first record
Adam Lempel & The Heartbeats
stood out in the
Baltimore
DIY music scene because it was so unapologetically straight-forward. After getting into the
Conservatorium van Amsterdam
to study classical music composition, he moved to
Amsterdam
where he currently lives," reads a brief description attached to
Baltimore
by way of
Amsterdam
multi-instrumentalist
Adam Lempel
's
page. Lempel and his noisy partner-in-crime,
Brendan Sullivan
quietly put out three guitar feedback-drenched albums and and aptly-titled
Acoustic Tape, Vol. 1
between 2008-2013; right on the cusp of
Indie Rock
's frenzied
WEEKENDS/Weekend/The Weeknd
mass confusion felt echoed across the blogosphere. However,
WEEKENDS
have been on an indefinite hiatus since the majority of copies of their then-forthcoming third album,
"NEW HUMANS"
(2013) were suddenly lost when an auto body shop, which co-existed as a makeshift "art gallery, practice space, and much more" tragically burned to the ground.
Adam Lempel
has released a number of rather subdued and stripped down solo releases including
Instrumentals
,
, and 80's-tinged
Adam Lempel & The Casiobeats
, as well as a number of self-released projects and EP's during the Noise-Rock duo's still unspecified break.
"Hey Matt, here's the video for the first single off
Still Life
called
"Don't Know Why."
I made it edited it myself and it was shot by
Juliet Altonen
...
Still Life
will be out the last week of February on
Friends Records
,"
Lempel wrote within a recent email sent over the holidays; as he's briefly returned home from
The Netherlands
, where he's currently perusing a masters degree in music design, to kick off the roll-out for his soon forthcoming third solo album,
Still Life
.
Adam Lempel
has given me the great honor to officially premier his self-edited music video for lead single,
It reminds me of a unique blend of
Folk
-indebted
Indie Rock
and 1950's
AM Radio Rock "N" Roll
akin to
Buddy Holly & The Crickets
, Elvis Presley,
Bill Haley & His Comets
, etc. which seemingly fits the bill, as Lempel's previous
Heartbeats
-backed album was befittingly tagged as
"alternative baltimore folk pop rock singer songwriter."
While additional release details are currently sparse,
Adam Lempel
has personally assured me that
expects to release
Still Life
sometime during the last week of February and it "features vocals from fellow musician,
Amanda Glasser
." I'm able to additionally report that Lempel and
WEEKENDS
co-founder
Brendan Sullivan
have a stockpile of unreleased recordings; however, it's unclear as to what exactly
Friends Records
ultimately plans to do with it.