Adrian Deutsch www.myspace.com/adriandeutschmusic
After sharing stages with The Pretenders, The Shins, Franz Ferdinand, Kaiser Chiefs, Snow Patrol and The Zutons as a member of Red Riders, and touring solo with Joan As Police Woman, Tex Perkins and The Hoodoo Gurus, Sydney songwriter Adrian Deutsch is proud present his debut LP Help You! – a shimmering set of classic pop, radio rock and 70’s soul.
Full of evergreen songwriting, the album marks a definitive moment for Deutsch, who sets scorching guitar, abundant hooks and lush orchestral arrangements to his own unique groove across 12 varied tracks.
“The kind of music that I admire is older, and it’s all about song writing,” he says. “I love 60’s and 70’s pop rock, Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe, and the playing is 80% of it. There’s something about that music that isn’t self-conscious. I like the sound of people playing together.”
“I sought refuge in that urgent, classic pop and soul, and wanted to make something honest,” he says. Fittingly, Help You! sounds like a love letter.
Songs like ‘Splitting The Difference’ and ‘Help You!’ reflect Deutsch’s optimism; marrying joyous Gershwin melodies with Elvis Costello’s wit and Curtis Mayfield’s funk, and charging fidelity with Gainsbourg-esque swagger.
“You can get your message across without hitting someone over the head with minor chords,” he says of his style. “And I always loved Jarvis Cocker and Gainsbourg – that sultriness in the delivery… it doesn’t mean you have to sing about shallow things.”
Help You! balances good fortune and celebration against Deutsch’s growing emotional maturity and distinctly adult perspective.
“Things are pretty good for me” he says. “I have a beautiful girlfriend and family, and it’s a lucky place to be. So the rest of the album asked ‘What if things were different?”
It’s an idea that he fully explores on ‘The Partisan’, charting his family heritage as European Jews during WW2. “I’m the grandson of Holocaust survivors, and growing up, I never took the time to think about the gravity of that, and how I came to have this nice life.”
As for the romantic, often melancholic spark and soul evident across the album, Deutsch says it’s just his honest response to everyday challenges. “It’s a big picture thing – taking a little situation and turning it into an all-encompassing thought. It’s really positive, and a simple message, really.”
Co-produced with Berkfinger at Big Jesus Burger studios, mixed by Adrian and mastered by Kevin Metcalfe (Rufus Wainwright, Pulp, Paul Weller) at The Soundmasters in London, Help You! is for anyone who has ever sung along to FM radio; an uplifting, stylish and classically pop-literate debut.
