Adult Books is a trio from Southern California whose songs tend to fall into one of two subgenres. It’s either ’80s new wave in the style of The Smiths and The Cure, or harder-edged rock that approaches punk. Singer/guitarist Nick Winfrey’s heart is clearly with the new wave songs, but the band is often more successful at the punk-adjacent material.
The best example of this is perhaps the beginning of Running From the Blows. The album opens with three treble-heavy, easygoing songs that fit right into the new wave template. “Casual Wrecks” is essentially driven by a high-register bassline in the verses and substitutes simple guitar and synth solos for a traditional chorus. “Firewalking” nestles smack dab in the middle of the aforementioned Smiths and Cure’s respective sounds, managing to be in a minor key while still sounding feather-light, and with Winfrey even affecting a faux-British accent. “Hours on Hands” is more of the same: laid-back, treble-heavy, and unthreateningly pleasant. So when “I Don’t Think I Can Stay” opens with slightly distorted, buzzing guitar and Winfrey starts shout-singing his way through the verses, it’s surprising. Bassist Daniel Quintanilla and drummer M.M. Sina don’t change their approach much, if at all, on this song, it’s almost all in Winfrey’s guitar and vocal attitude. The increased energy makes a big difference, to the point where Adult Books feels like they’re awake for the first time on the record.
The rest of the album functions similarly, to the point where it began to beg further analysis. Why does the new wave material fall flat while the punk stuff feels so energetic? Songwriting has a bit to do with it. The gentler songs tend to have pretty good instrumental ideas but are missing a big chorus to really drive home the point emotionally. The guitar tone is also an element. Adult Books just sounds better as a chugging, punky power trio than as a cleanly picked, sometimes synth-infused light rock band. But the main reason, I think, is Nick Winfrey’s vocals. He just isn’t a very expressive singer. When Adult Books combines pedestrian singing with lackluster choruses, the result is songs that just don’t pop. The band’s harder-edged songs pick up a lot of energy from the heavier guitar playing and aren’t so reliant on distinct vocals to sell the simpler choruses.
When the band combines some of their two main styles it makes for interesting case studies. “In Front of Myself” goes a little faster than the rest of the new wave stuff and employs a slightly chunkier guitar tone. This goes a long way towards giving it energy, which makes the clean guitar lead sound better when it comes around. But it still lacks the kind of chorus that would really make the song catchy. On the other end of this is “Silverlake Goths”, which matches chugging guitars with a bit slower tempo. This is a song with a striking title (especially for those familiar with the titular Los Angeles neighborhood) that Winfrey thought was so striking he didn’t need to write a chorus. Instead he nearly-tunelessly chants “Silverlake Goths” over and over between verses and calls it a day. It makes the song repetitive and boring.
On the positive side, there’s “Suburban Girlfriend”. The album’s lead single again uses a combination of chugging rhythm guitar and a clean lead guitar riff, but this time the vocals and lyrics pay off. Winfrey manages to clearly express an idea — “I want a suburban girlfriend and here’s why” — in his verses, and he backs it up with a good chorus. There are even some nicely placed backing vocals in the song to sweeten it up. His singing still isn’t particularly good, but the rest of the song is sturdy enough to make up for his lack of vocal personality even though the band isn’t in punk mode.
There is potential for Adult Books. Quintanilla and Sina are a rock-solid rhythm section that puts together interesting bass and drum parts, although Sina tends to fall back on similar rhythm patterns a bit too often. Winfrey has obvious skills as a songwriter and guitarist. There are a lot of really good new wave guitar riffs scattered throughout the album. And there are strong, catchy elements in most of his songs. Running From the Blows, though, suffers from confusion about what the band’s strengths and weaknesses are. Hopefully Winfrey will gain some clarity on that issue as the band goes forward.