John K. Samson Premieres "Alpha Adept"
John K. Samson’s songwriting continues to draw us into examining ourselves and the world we inhabit.
As a listener, we take a thoughtful journey, becoming more present in the discourse the more we listen. "Alpha Adept" is one of those beguiling songs that will keep bringing you back to Winter Wheat, eager for more exploration.
Listen care of Exclaim!: http://exclaim.ca/music/article/john_k_samson-alpha_adept
This from John K Samson about “Alpha Adept”;
“Alpha Adept” is a peculiar song. I wrote it as a sequel to the song before it on the record, “Quiz Night at Looky Lou’s,” partly because I felt bad abandoning that character where I left him, in a sports bar in Sioux Lookout, reading frightening meanings into things. One of the themes that runs through this record is delusional thinking, and how sometimes we need to learn to live with our delusions, accept them, in this case turn them into a useful reason to live. Especially if the only other option is to let them control and destroy us.
I was also interested in misinterpretations. For example, sometimes a misheard song lyric is better than the real lyric. In this case I imagine the protagonist reading “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T.S. Eliot, and thinking the mermaids at the end of the poem aren’t going to sing for Prufrock because they are actually aliens from outer space delivering a message to him instead, letting him know they are going to return to Earth and take him away to a better place, where people aren’t so cruel.
These two linked songs were also partly inspired by Terminator 2. Maybe future John Connor sent a T-800 back in time to help me write them?
Producers Christine Fellows and Jason Tait battled to see who could make the funniest sci-fi sounds for the middle instrumental part, and Greg Smith’s bass line is beautiful. It makes me really happy. I think the character in the song would approve of what they made.”
John K. Samson and the Winter Wheat Live
Nov. 4 – Winnipeg – West End Cultural Centre
Nov. 5 – Winnipeg – West End Cultural Centre
Nov. 8 – Toronto – Mod Club