The latest single from Adam Brookes is much more fixated and driven than he’s been before. The swagger and style that’s characteristic to this SF based artist is unchanged, continually being able to deliver a performance that’s wholly loaded with verve and excitement. But ‘Different Times’ ‘manages to be so much more. It’s infectiously addictive, combining a brilliant usage of synths and alternate rock melodies to craft a sumptuous piece of modern pop rock music that’s more interesting for its refined and cohesive feeling than anything overly gratuitous or over the top. Brookes’ voice on the chorus is the definitive highlight, measured and controlled, describing a feeling and a place through time.
The electric work across this record is simply majestic, with some of the best utilisation of synths that I’ve seen in the past year. There’s nothing outwardly unique or overly ambitious, it just hits all the right spots with such precise control that you can’t help but find it mesmerizingly addictive. It’s the kind of song that one listen never suffices, that you have to repeat again and again.