AdairStar(ting Something)

Taking literal song-titling to its figurative highest, ADAIRSTAR (caps added) has followed up his initial four-song EP Pairs with his most ambitious single yet. About Three Very Different People begins with Adairstar revisiting the disorienting piano riff-age of his early work for the theater. While our narrator detachedly observes the facial features of what can only be assumed is the first of the three very different people, the creeping melody robotically warbles over glitchy electronic drums. "This is the last place I should be," he sings as though ready to escape and, lo, the gothic Philip Glass piano gives way to warm synths, blissed-out strings and driving kick drum. Like a sickly, detuned version of the soundtrack to a film about a championship long-distance runner, the second section of the About Three Very Different People is half triumphant Sufjan Stevens piano and half Penderecki string-and-horn madness. The vocals are a little lost amongst the busy, complicated overlapping of chords, forever obscuring the details of the final two people (not to be confused with the first, nor the second with third). It hardly matters as the music speaks volumes. As much as the listener might want the track to settle, for the tonality to pick major or minor, for the song decide: happy? sad? About Three Very Different People refuses to admit anything that clearly. Adairstar keeps everything in flux, ebbing and flowing amongst degrees of emotions, not all of them pleasant. Regardless, its worth staying with the track through the tough spots because when everything comes together, it all feels worthwhile. Huh. Sort of like relationships.