Album Details

• Artist: Adam Marsland
• Album: Daylight Kissing Night - Adam Marsland's Greatest Hits
• Label: Karma Frog
• Year of Release: 2008
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: solitaryman on 2008-08-02

Two obvious questions came to my head when coming across this CD: who the heck is Adam Marsland and why does he have a Greatest Hits release? Obvious because we all know there are more bands coasting it on local celeb status and good old-fashioned work ethic than there are those packing arenas and going triple-platinum. This is about as "indie" a release as it gets; here's a guy in Marsland with ample history writing pop music, both as a solo artist and with his band the Cockeyed Ghosts. Daylight Kissing Night and it's 20 tracks, culled from every year of his life as a musician so far, serves as a melodically sound, lyrically expressive introduction to a guy who's got a firm grip on the ins and outs of pop music.

Adam's approach is mostly based on standard-format, not so complex alt-rock that's got touches of Jack Johnson, Ben Folds, and even some classic pop influence in the melodies that reminds of The Beatles.  His lyrics are a big focal point, as his voice is always at the front of the mix and he's got a way with words. It's apparent on tracks like "How Can You Stand It?", "At the Bookstore" and "The Fates Cry Foul" in particular. Of all these songs, I tend to enjoy the songs he's done under the Cockeyed Ghost monicker the most; they sound more fleshed out and developed.  Whoever's taking up the backing duties at any given point sounds totally competent, a rare thing indeed for a true indie act such at this.

All told, quite a decent pop record here. For those fans of Adam's out there, this disc should already be on your shelves, so it's not worth recommending it to anyone other than fans of acoustic, soft pop rock with some intelligence and personal flavor to it. I'm almost curious enough to go seeking out some more Cockeyed Ghost material. 

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