Adam Gibson

From the voice behind
The Aerial Maps, The Ark-Ark Birds & Modern Giant

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“Adam Gibson writes from the heart, from the street, about the place that moves him most. Ripper real words that are well worth checking out.” Peter Garrett (Midnight Oil)

“Adam Gibson looks let to join the ranks of fine Australian musical storytellers such as Paul Kelly and Mick Thomas” The Sunday Telegraph

“Sometimes you can’t go back, you can never go back – and yet if anyone can take you there it’s Adam Gibson.” Mick Thomas (Weddings Parties Anything)

“Look, I’ll get straight to the point – Adam Gibson made me want to move to Melbourne. I was living in LA when it was brought to my attention that there was a song that featured me quite prominently. Not me, really, but Angie Hart, the one that Adam remembers.” Angie Hart (Frente)

New compilation The Songs Of Adam Gibson collates on vinyl for the first time the cream of the epic Australiana conjured by Sydney wordsmith and poet Adam Gibson, accumulated during his tenures with acclaimed outfits Modern Giant, The Aerial Maps and The Ark-Ark Birds between 2004 and the present day.

That’s 16 years of sweat, toil and creativity – itself pre-empted by a lifetime soaking in the essence of Australia and what it means to be Australian – condensed into four sides of wax, 16 favoured tracks representing the entire storied canon.

Throughout the beguiling collection of literate, distinctly-Australian narratives Gibson’s laconic, spoken-word delivery proves effortlessly entrancing, the unforced wisdom of his evocative recollections and thought-provoking asides intoxicating in their candour and detail.

Whether looking back fondly on the carefree Australia of his youth – meat pies, custard tarts, Hills Hoist backyards, Galaga, Sunnyboys, long drives in hot cars, mozzie zappers, The Sullivans on TV and Dennis Lillee driveways – or more adult concerns such as employment, death, mateship and the lure of adventure in far-flung climes, the themes become universal in Gibson’s adept hands as he squeezes meaning and beauty from the minutiae and mundanity of the everyday.

Riding atop beautiful music which perfectly aligns with both Gibson’s delivery and the meaning inherent in his words – provided by a rotating cast of bandmates including the towering figure of much-missed ex-Hummingbirds legend Simon Holmes – these songs both entertain and educate, encapsulating both the wide open expanses of our country and the quirks of our cities and sprawling suburbia.

At a time when Australia’s national identity is being challenged more than ever this as-yet-unheralded body of work becomes uniquely important – a cache of Australian songs in a distinctly Australian voice and vernacular which provide context and empathy for the Australian experience. In this regard Adam Gibson without doubt deserves to be mentioned alongside artists such as Paul Kelly, Peter Garrett, Mick Thomas, David McComb, Robert Forster and Grant McLennan in the great pantheon of Aussie storytellers.