ADULT. is not cooperating. For over 25 years, the dystopian Detroit synth-punk institution founded by Nicola Kuperus and Adam Lee Miller has embodied steadfast frustration, distrust, and apprehension. One might expect the edges to soften with time, but ADULT. is not interested in the comforts of legacy. The duo’s music has never sounded as visceral, urgent, and downright angry as it does on the culminating, uncompromising Kissing Luck Goodbye. Built with upgraded gear and a new library of sounds, the material is crushingly dynamic, louder-yetclearer, with Kuperus’ commanding delivery given greater prominence in the mix, outlining an arsenal of vivid, 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 WHAT THEY WANT,” she sings on “R U 4 $ALE”, doubling as a declaration of intent: to meet a burning world of greed and disarray with defiant, masterfully assembled chaos. “You have two choices in this hellscape we're living in right now, which is either fight or be depressed,” says Miller. “Either one is okay. But, you know, the choice was simple.”
ADULT. is known for high-stakes catharsis on stage, and recently deployed their back catalog of bass guitar songs from the 2000s, retracing the prescient Anxiety Always–era partially out of necessity given the temperature of today’s political and technological dread. The response was instant and palpable: “We were in Paris, and the kids were stage diving. And I was like, this is rad. This is kind of the energy I want to get back into,” Kuperus says. The epiphany coincided with a series of setbacks — Kuperus’ bouts with chronic vertigo, the loss of their close friend and collaborator Douglas McCarthy of Nitzer Ebb, whom the album is dedicated to — all made profoundly worse under the looming regime. “We're just like everything's breaking. We're breaking. We're broken.” The sentiment didn’t stick, however, as they found themselves ultimately too super-charged by fury to sit still. The vibe heading into Kissing Luck Goodbye was four middle fingers pointed straight up.
Rather than retreat, they focused on the process, revisiting their setup, complete with their first new mics in 20 years. Pause the album at any moment, and you’re likely to count a dozen things happening at once in strange, dizzying, and dissonant harmony. "No One is Coming" attacks inaction in the face of fascism — “NO ONE IS COMING TO YOUR RESCUE.” “None of It's Fun” blitzes with breathless urgency, high-speed glissades, and pointed lines like “OH I AM TEARING MY GUTS OUT / LOOK AT ME…DO YOU THINK THAT THIS IS AMUSING?”
A straightforward bassline and kick collide with pulsing mantras on closer "Destroyers," then becomes completely saturated and cacophonous. Their younger selves might have let the song destroy itself, but here, they were able to steady the volume throughout the extremes, making way for a poignant, parting a cappella: WE PAY THE PRICE / FOR THOSE IN POWER / EXPLOITING YOU / EXPLOITING ME / CONSUMING YOU / CONSUMING ME / SICK SICK SICK / SICKENING / IT IS US / THAT ARE DEVOURED / BY EVERYTHING / I WILL EAT YOUR HATE
1. Affordable Decorating
2. Wishing Luck Goodbye
3. R U 4 $ALE
4. No One is Coming
5. No Song
6. Freaks
7. None of It's Fun
8. Human(e) Volume
9. So Unpleasant
10. Destroyers
