Music Feeds’ Love Letter to a Record series asks artists to reflect on their relationship with the music they love and share stories about how it has influenced their lives. Here, Mark Piccles of Sydney band A.D.K.O.B raises a glass to Brian Eno’s 1975 masterpiece Another Green World.
Sydney indie-rock foursome A.D.K.O.B – also known as A Different Kind of Busy – released their debut album, Defender, on Monday, 31st October. Featuring the singles ‘November’ and ‘A Boring Neighbourhood’, the album is the culmination of more than half a dozen years of creative exploration for guitarist and vocalist Mark Piccles, along with bass player Andrew Quizon, drummer Andrew Clews and backing vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Jane Doutney.
A.D.K.O.B’s Mark Piccles on Another Green World
Mark Piccles: I was 18 years old, sitting in a dull TAFE class on music business. Daniel, a fellow classmate, had snuck a single earphone under his shirt so he could listen while studying away. Daniel leaned over at one point and asked if I had ever listened to Brian Eno’s solo records. I said something along the lines of “I have been meaning to” – in actual fact I had never even heard of the guy.
Reaching under his shirt, Daniel grabbed his second earbud and shoved it in my ear. He hit play on a song called ‘The Big Ship’, and in three minutes and two seconds, everything changed.
That evening, finding a copy of Another Green World somewhere was my utmost priority. Not too long after, I was lost within it. Textures I couldn’t put my finger on, off the wall production, weird robot vocals. It was like hearing a genre of music I yearned for but never knew existed.
Eno’s ability to create such emotive sonic palettes using nothing but machines is something to behold. Another Green World is a masterclass on this.
‘In Dark Trees’ sounds like you’re on a train going through a dark tunnel. ‘Golden Hours’ paints imagery of waiting in line, stuck in traffic, time passing. Eno has this knack for drawing the humanity out of distinctly non-human situations.
‘The Big Ship’ changed everything for me. It could have been any track I heard first from this record, but happened to be this one. It has no vocals. It has a simple repetitive structure. No guitars. It was missing all the key elements of music I was used to hearing and identifying. And it single-handedly made me realise that above all else, music should just make you feel something.
A.D.K.O.B: Defender
- A.D.K.O.B will launch Defender on Friday, 2nd December at Waywards, Sydney. Tickets here.
Further Reading
Love Letter to a Record: Emily Lubitz on the Beach Boys’ ‘Pet Sounds’
Brian Eno Trashes NFTs In New Interview, Says They Add No Value To The World
