ADULT. w/ Donzii, The Treasury

DETROIT SYNTH PUNK

ADULT. is not cooperating. For over 25 years, the dystopian Detroit synth-punk institution founded byNicola Kuperus and Adam Lee Miller has embodied steadfast frustration, distrust, and apprehension. Onemight expect the edges to soften with time, but ADULT. is not interested in the comforts of legacy. Theduo’s music has never sounded as visceral, urgent, and downright angry as it does on the culminating,uncompromisingKissing Luck Goodbye, their scorched-earth 10th LP and fourth with Dias Records. Builtwith upgraded gear and a whole new library of sounds, the material is crushingly dynamic, louder yetclearer, with Kuperus’ commanding delivery given greater prominence in the mix, outlining an arsenal ofvivid, caustic calls, chants, and musings. Laughter, whether in the lyrics or as a possessed presence,serves as a leitmotif that speaks to the menacing absurdity of modern times. “THE CHAOS IS WHATTHEY WANT,” she sings on “R U 4 $ale”, doubling as a declaration of intent: to meet a burning world ofgreed and disarray with defiant, masterfully assembled chaos. “You have two choices in this hellscapewe’re living in right now, which is either fight or be depressed,” says Miller. “Either one is okay. But, youknow, the choice was simple.”ADULT. is known for high-stakes catharsis on stage, and recently deployed their back catalog of bassguitar songs from the 2000s, retracing the prescientAnxiety Alwaysera partially out of necessity giventhe temperature of today’s political and technological dread. The response was instant and palpable: “Wewere in Paris, and the kids were stage diving. And I was like, this is rad. This is kind of the energy I wantto get back into,” Kuperus says. The epiphany coincided with a series of setbacks—Kuperus’ bouts withchronic vertigo, the loss of their close friend and collaborator Douglas McCarthy of Nitzer Ebb, whom thealbum is dedicated to—all made profoundly worse under the looming regime. “We were stuck in the mudfor quite a while after the election,” Miller says.“We had all the concepts, but we would just be like,‘What’s the point?’” With failing studio air conditioners and dead car batteries (their sacred space forlistening back to recordings), they often joked that the album might be cursed. Kuperus adds, “We’re justlike everything’s breaking. We’re breaking. We’re broken.” The sentiment didn’t stick, however, as theyfound themselves ultimately too super-charged by fury to sit still. From watching Musk’s disgusting nazisalute to seeing their community struggle under the new regime to waiting months for a tariff-inflatedreplacement subwoofer, the vibe heading intoKissing Luck Goodbyewas four middle fingers pointedstraight up.Rather than retreat, they focused on the process, revisiting their setup, complete with their first new micsin 20 years. They obsessed over textures, amassing a massive sample library taken from old thrift-storealbums, previously used and unused ADULT. ingredients and new field recordings, running myriad items,including the buzz ofshop vacs, through various pedals. PauseKissing Luck Goodbyeat any moment,and you’re likely to count a dozen things happening at once in strange, dizzying, and dissonant harmony.Together with producer Nolan Gray, whose involvement resulted from a chance encounter (he happenedto be the host of the short-term rental property where the two stayed—maybe there is stillsomeluck,after all), the band pushed themselves harder than ever before to build a world with this record.Songs took shape from unusual places: “No One Is Coming” got its tempo from a skipping record theycaptured through a cell phone during a bnb stay for Kuperus’ 50th birthday. A bassline-driven industrialanthem that turns feedback into melody, the track attacks inaction in the faceof fascism—“NO ONE ISCOMING TO YOUR RESCUE” is as simple as that: the resistance will not be provided by someone else.“None of It’s Fun” blitzes with breathless urgency, high-speed glissades, and pointed lines like “OH I AMTEARING MY GUTS OUT / LOOK AT ME…DO YOU THINK THAT THIS IS AMUSING?”The closer, “Destroyers”, was the last song they recorded and encompasses the techniques ADULT. haslearned not just throughout the making ofKissing Luck Goodbye,but across their quarter-century as apioneeringcollaborative project. A straightforward bassline and kick collide with pulsing mantras, then becomes completely saturated and cacophonous. Their younger selves might have let the song destroyitself, but here, they were able to steady the volume throughout the extremes, making way for a poignant,parting a cappella:WE PAY THE PRICE FORTHOSE IN POWEREXPLOITING YOUEXPLOITING MECONSUMING YOUCONSUMING MESICK SICK SICKSICKENINGIT IS USTHAT ARE DEVOUREDBY EVERYTHINGI WILL EAT YOUR HATE