Adam Rose is a singer and multi-instrumentalist from Pittsburgh who has recently released his latest solo album Levitate the Base. It’s an entirely instrumental record with a focus on Rose’s elegant and restrained guitar playing, but it’s lushly produced and awash with dense layers of synthesizers and keyboards. If the title or album artwork are any indication, Rose is strongly influenced by the psychedelic prog rock of King Crimson and early-era Pink Floyd. However, although there are a few songs which surpass the seven-minute mark and there’s plenty of guitar noodling to go around, Levitate the Base is often far tighter and poppy than either of those bands.
Rose certainly doesn’t straitjacket himself to the prog genre either, and from the ’80s new wave feel of “Riptide” to the ambient leanings of “In The Glow,” he is experimenting with a wide array of styles and moods. The aptly titled “Paisley Arcade” does a fantastic job of recreating ’60s organ-driven garage, and could conceivably pass as an unreleased studio jam from The Doors. Some of the songs, especially the more traditionally poppy ones are dying for similarly melodic vocals, but as a whole experience, Levitate the Base is a truly enlightening experience.
