‘Anti-folk’ hero Adam Green is celebrated here on a collection of songs from his solo catalogue. Some of the noughties favourite hipsters show up to give their, at times unique, take on the Moldy Peaches frontman’s work.
Queen of NYC cool, Regina Spektor opens proceedings in a duet with Jack Dishel, delivering a plaintive back and forth on We’re Not Supposed to Be Lovers. The Lemon Twigs continue on the keys adding some psychedelia with Baby’s Gonna Die Tonight.
It’s a fun start to the record, which undulates between more unique takes by truly original artists like Father John Misty (Musical Ladders), The Lemonheads (Losing on a Tuesday) and Sean Ono Lennon (That Fucking Feeling). These just about balance out the more straight-up covers, which you’d expect from the Adam Green school of oh-so-lo-fi indie. Good friend and collaborator Ben Kweller makes an obvious appearance, elevating Her Father and Her with a pop glow-up that maintains its writer’s original rich drama. Moldy bandmate Kimya Dawson is notable by her absence on this record but she’s probably had her fill of Green since their Moldy Peaches reunion earlier this year.
Green’s songwriting prowess, perhaps previously underrated, is given a new lease of life on this record. The fun but sardonic Emily is transformed from it’s adult kids show singalong into a romcom montage by Jonathan Rado. The formerly vaudevillian Drugs becomes altogether more trippy in the hands of TV On the Radio’s Kyp Malone. And the humour of Dreidels of Fire remains but is beefed up by Ben Lee.
It doesn’t all come off. Jessica, performed by The Libertines, sounds a little misogynistic in its treatment of its muse Jessica Simpson and could probably have been left out. Meanwhile My Shadow Tags on Behind undergoes a northern transformation through The Cribs but loses it’s original charm and comes out sounding like a Jarman throwaway.
This remains, however. a fun tribute and you can’t deny Green’s staying power and influence on his peers. His wordplay is deceptively simple and emotive but layered; begging for repeat listens. Moping…will have hardcore Green fans delighted and those less familiar intrigued to check out the source material.