Adam Green was half of the ardour and madness that was Moldy Peaches, half of what was behind the animal suits and make up. And you know, whoever would have thought that behind all of that craziness was a songwriter of such quality and grace? Jacket Full of Danger is Adam's fourth solo album in five years. It sees a return to the quieter, softer, less maverick sound that defined his early work and beyond. All delivered with the familiar panache and lounge singer cool. All wrapped up in the same bundle of nonsensical rhymes and meaningless words that make Anthony Keidis seem like Ferlinghetti.
Jacket Full of Danger is a mixture of folk and anti-folk held together by an acerbic lyrical wit as always. Mixing up American folk traditions and the proto-punk of Jonathan Richman, Adam's songs manage to sound both sanguine and plaintive all at once.
Mostly abandoning the upbeat indie rock of Gemstones and returning to the string-laden, ashen melodrama of Friends of Mine. Jacket Full of Danger begins with the crestfallen "Pay The Toll" and slowly moves through dispositions of despondency, pessimism and the disconsolation of "Vultures" to a mere lugubriousness at the beginning of single, and only real throwback to Gemstones, "Nat King Cole." The upswing of mood is immediately destroyed when "C-Birds" returns to the lamentory and mournful with heavy strings and repeated, rhythmic chanting. Finally rising again through the bright acoustic lines and pop melodies of "Cast a Shadow", that maintain through "Drugs" until crashing again into "Watching Old Movies".
Running home with "White Women" and "Hairy Women", and with a mixture of puerility and good rock 'n' roll sensibilities, Jacket Full of Danger is doleful, raucous and, ultimately, cooler than everything else floating around in the anti folk and indie worlds right now. Keeping with the tradition of Moldy Peaches in delivering unpredictable work filled with hidden charm, humor and mania, Adam Green is the chic to the predictability indie rock has become over the past year. The capriciousness to the pedestrian and pablum. The madness to the sanity.
