Culture
‘When I Was A Boy’: Adam Remnant’s First Solo EP
By: Emily Votaw
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Memory is a fluid thing, and, perhaps, something that can be best excavated through art.
For Adam Remnant, formerly the frontman and chief songwriter of the dynamite folk-rock act Southeast Engine, the release of his first solo EP, entitled When I Was A Boy, serves as just that. The EP will be officially released on Friday on Trailer Fire Records and on Thursday Remnant will play a special release show at The Union alongside Supernobody and Gaptooth Grin.
Remnant said that the process of writing the songs on the EP, which weighs in at a lean 27-or-so-minutes, occurred over the course of several years (mostly 2012-2013) following the dissolution of Southeast Engine.
“Writing for projects typically occurs over longer periods of time for me, with the themes slowly developing until I know how to group songs into a cohesive album,” said Remnant in an interview several weeks before the release of When I Was A Boy. “At the start of 2016, I narrowed in on these six songs in order to get something out sooner than later. I think it serves as a good introduction to myself as a solo artist.”
So far as the themes explored over the course of the EP, Remnant said that becoming a parent in recent years spurred him to look backward, unearthing classic themes like the loss of innocence and one’s coming of age in the process.
“The title track looks back at childhood as a sort of paradise-now-lost through the lens of adulthood. The remaining tracks aren’t about childhood per se, but to my mind they are haunted by it,” said Remnant. “The myth of the happy childhood is always suggesting that life need not be so difficult, and offers the illusion that we can return to this so-called ‘paradise.’ You have to resist that idea in order to meet life on its own terms.”
In following the nostalgia-laced themes of When I Was a Boy, the cover of the EP is a shot of Remnant’s childhood home in Dayton, OH taken with a cell phone about a year ago.
“I was home visiting my parents and drove through the Belmont neighborhood where I grew up until about age eight,” said Remnant. “I wasn’t planning on using the pictures for album art at the time, but it sort of dawned on me that they complimented the material in an engaging way.”
Remnant said that he is excited to release the EP at a show that will star the talents of some of his favorite local acts.
“I adore Supernobody and (frontman/lead songwriter) Mike Elliot’s music and have for a long time. He is a hidden gem in Athens. Sometimes he makes an effort to promote a new album, and sometimes he releases new music almost covertly. I’ve been lucky enough to be privy to all of it, at least I think, including Supernobody’s new space-rock opus,” said Remnant. You can check out WOUB’s interview with Elliot on that very special space rock effort right here. “I encourage folks to seek out the Supernobody records and his solo records. Gaptooth Grin is a newer band I’ve caught live a couple times and found really exciting – great songs and cool upbeat performances.”
Remnant said that he has been working on a full length album of solo material, and that fans can look forward to the release of that in the coming months. He will also be touring throughout the year with a four piece band in support of the new EP.
You can check out an exclusive stream of When I Was A Boy on Stereogum right here.
