Adam Melchor Releases Delicately Spoken and Piano-Driven Album, 'Here Goes Nothing!'
Photo by Daniel Topete
Catching Adam Melchor on a video call last week while he was on his way out of Buffalo Bill Cody’s Trading Post and running across (what it sounded like) some major country roads somewhere in North Platte, Nebraska - was an introduction from a rising indie-alternative musician that I will always remember.
Melchor glistens with happiness over our call as I tell him how excited I was to speak with him regarding his new album, Here Goes Nothing! As he’s currently on tour with Noah Kahan, I was able to catch him in between show dates to completely unravel his thoughts behind his live recordings with featured guests, pre-show rituals and the creative process behind his new project.
Here Goes Nothing! features Melchor on piano for many of the tracks, offering us a glimpse into a beautifully delicate world that we graciously appreciate him sharing with the rest of us. The subtle references to the scenes that remind him of his time in London along with glimpses of the person Melchor writes about, leaves us with a vulnerable yet compassionate piece of music.
With this album, I feel as though we truly are beginning to understand Melchor as an artist even more profoundly than ever before. After speaking with Melchor last week, I listened to his album a few more times. Our discussion consisted of him breaking down his work for me, and now as I listen back to some of my favourite pieces from him, I feel as though they speak to me differently every time. Melchor’s intricate writing abilities truly advance the listener to pick up new aspects of imagery in each new listen of a track.
From tracks like “Cry,” “Angel Numbers,” “Touch and Go” to “Sorry Adam,” - Melchor has created a project that reaches a beautiful depth of indie-alternative music that will leave another great impression on listeners for years to come.
Photo by Daniel Topete
[UNPUBLISHED]: Since I’m catching you in between tour dates, can you give us a run down of any pre-show rituals that you must do before heading on stage?
[ADAM MELCHOR]: One thing I always do before a show is brush my teeth. I don’t know what it is about it but it makes me able to feel my mouth more. For some reason, I just love doing it. It just makes me feel like I brighten up the space in a weird way. So, just know that whenever I’m on stage, my breath is perfect. Even if my voice doesn’t sound good, at least it smells good!
[UNPUBLISHED]: Which song out of your new album Here Goes Nothing do you enjoy performing live the most?
[ADAM MELCHOR]: I usually open up the set with a song called “Cry,” but I think the one that I’ve been really feeling the last couple of nights is “Touch And Go.” To me, it’s just like the mellow part of the set, but the melodies and everything are just so fun to sing. That’s one that I’ve been having the most fun with. It’s been fun to actually do a lot of the new songs live because on the tours, people don’t really know who I am in general, - so it allows me a lot of leeway to just do whatever I want. It’s been really nice to hear the response from all the brand-new songs.
[UNPUBLISHED]: I think one of my favourite songs off the album has to be “Sorry Adam”. It’s a very vulnerable piece lyrically and I feel as though the jazzy/blues instrumentals incorporated through the chorus really complement the raw lyrics extremely well. Would you mind breaking this song down for us?
[ADAM MELCHOR]: Yeah, that song means a lot to me. During the recording of it we actually did it with a 26-piece orchestra and Van Dyke Parks arranged it. He’s a legend! He did a lot with The Beach Boys, and he’s an older man, - about 84-years-old. It’s funny because one of the musicians that was in the orchestra actually studied upright bass with my grandpa, and I never really got a chance to see my grandpa play bass. It was cool seeing him play for the orchestra in that sense. I’m really happy it all came together. The first voice memo recording is actually my grandma and I playing piano together. It’s super fun to be able to have her voice on there and she’s very excited to hear herself on the vinyl too whenever that comes out. I’m lucky to do what I do, and to have it be a family affair.
[UNPUBLISHED]: I googled Turnham Green and found that it is a park in London. If this is the correct place you wrote about in “Turnham Green” can you expand on how this place reflects the feeling of losing something that was very special to you found in the lyrics for the song?
[ADAM MELCHOR]: Yeah, the whole album is about a long distance relationship that I was in with somebody who was in London and lived close to that park. With all of the imagery in the song, like Turnham Green, it reflects a harder time in our relationship where we began seeing a lot of different sides of each other - even in a negative way. I thought it was cool with the wordplay to talk about the mornings we walked through the park. There’s a lot of references in those songs especially, and it’s been cool to look through Google Maps and see all of the spots I reference. You know in some books how the author has a map at the beginning, or a list of characters, it’s kind of that similar idea. Anyone in a long distance relationship, or has been to London, I guess will be able to understand the references.
[UNPUBLISHED]: You worked with Fleet Foxes on “Let Me Know When”. Can you walk us through how the collaboration came to be?
[ADAM EMLCHOR]: Yeah, I’ve been friends with Robin; the lead singer, writer, and producer of Fleet Foxes, for quite a while. Basically while I was writing the album, I had sent him a message like ‘Hey man, I don’t know if you’re doing this already with people but it would be amazing to work on something together’. Afterwards I thought I’d check out his Instagram page and I clicked on his story. Maybe 15 minutes before I messaged him, he posted an article for Rolling Stone, where he talks about how he hates when people come up to him saying, ‘Hey we should write together’. So, I went back to his Instagram and unsent the message. I finally found the right time with the song that Charlie Puth and I had written. I was looking for a way to make it a little more Indie Alternative. I then reached back out to Robin with it and he was like ‘100%’. So we got in the studio! That song actually led me to singing with Post Malone because of Robin since he worked on a song with him as well. It’s cool where a song can bring you, and I will now always say definitely reach out to your heroes.
[UNPUBLISHED]: Which song off the album did you find was the most difficult to finish either through the writing process or production-wise?
[ADAM MELCHOR]: I think it’s a tie between “Touch And Go” and “I’m Ready”. I started writing “I’m Ready” in 2019, - and it sat there for a really long time. That was definitely the hardest one to write and get to a place where the production was cool, but simple. Sometimes the simplest songs are the hardest ones to crack because there’s so many things you can do with it. “Touch and Go” was actually really tough as well because it was a last-minute addition to the album. When I first brought it to my producer, I really wanted it to be as big as possible. Then finally after like 10 tries, he was like ‘Adam, I’m really sorry but I think you just have to sing it and play it at the same time and we won’t click anything’. I did that and then all he said was that he needed 24 hours. Once he sent it back to me, I instantly thought that this was the best thing we’ve ever done.
[UNPUBLISHED]: I watched your live studio performance with Alexander 23 for “Cry” and I absolutely fell in love with the energy of that song. I’ve always wondered what it would feel like to be in a studio space with the sound of this very emotional and powerful song shuffling through the air. Can you describe how it felt to sing “Cry” in this intimate setting with Alexander 23?
[ADAM MELCHOR]: It’s funny because that day, we were actually supposed to do a different song with a different artist. We had all the cameras set up and whatnot, and then at the very last minute, this person just couldn’t make it. So I pulled out my phone and the first person I Facetimed was Alexander. I asked him if he was doing anything that day, and he had a dinner scheduled for the evening but he was like ‘honestly, if canceling this dinner means that I get to be the hero, I’m so down’. So he went home, learnt the song, came over and we got it in two takes. It was a really nice moment for me too in terms of songwriting where I felt as though I wrote a good song that was good enough for us to sing it in one take with limited time, and Alexander was just so good. He’s one of my favourite artists and just a really close friend of mine. He’s been through a lot musically and emotionally, so I’ve leaned on him for a lot of advice.
[UNPUBLISHED]: Your debut mixtape Melchor Lullaby Hotline Vol. 1 is still a major hit and I feel like you really left an impression on all of those who found your music from the very beginning. How do you feel you have evolved as an artist with Here Goes Nothing?
[ADAM MELCHOR]: I felt like the energy of the Lullaby Hotline was very sweet and wholesome, and I feel like that’s really what I wanted that project to be. Lullaby Hotline to me is like comfort food while everyone was in this really weird place during the pandemic. I think that with this album [Here Goes Nothing], I wanted to have a similar energy in terms of how I write and record songs, - meaning, have great instrumentals and vocals. I think working with somebody else and getting their vision on it production-wise, was really helpful because there were sounds that I would not be able to do on my own that I was able to create with my friend Henry. I felt the growth in that way. There’s also a lot more piano songs on this album, and I didn’t really realise how many piano songs there were until people started telling me they didn’t even know that I played. It was nice to showcase that different side of me that people hadn’t seen before.
