On «Closure», Adna lets dark and beautiful flowers bloom
Adna's third album, «Closure», is the culmination of her unmistakable sound for the time being.
Music leaves an impression when it is unique. When it breaks the mould and opens the door to an unknown cosmos.
Such music remains the exception. Because it can only be created by a small circle of artists. These are the people who do not just make music for the sake of music. These are the people whose music is the product of a drive. It is about naked survival. For these people, music is like water – without it, death is inevitable.
Adna Kadic is one of those people. You can feel it in every verse, every note: she is doing what she was meant to do. The Swede with Bosnian roots lives in Berlin and, despite her young age, has already released two albums.
Her 2014 debut, Night, was a raw diamond. Step by step, Adna found her own sound. In just one year, she had created her universe on Run, Lucifer. The album sounds so intense and definitive that it could be the end result of a career.
Janosch Troehler
It's not an easy position for a young musician to be in. The third album, Closure, is the continuation of the story, but one with two possible endings: either Adna will continue her ascent, or she will have to admit to herself that she has already reached the summit with Run, Lucifer and that only descent remains.
One way or another, Adna's career will continue. However, this tightrope walk in the unknown makes Closure a fascinating place to be.
Vulnerable Songs
The nine-track album opens with the eponymous song Closure. The fight begins with drums, driving and urgent. The sound is unmistakable. The song sounds rebellious, seeking a way out.
This is in the form of Overthinking, the single that was released in October 2016. The beat that drives the arrangement in the background sounds like it's coming from a nightclub in the distance. Overthinking is the fastest song Adna has made since The Prettiest.
In Overthinking, there is also a brief glimpse of an as-yet unexplored facet of her sound cosmos. Until now, this cosmos has been defined by gentle ballads.
While Shiver gave Run, Lucifer the overwhelming goosebump moment, Closure is given to the piece Leave. If you want to understand Adna, you can't avoid it. Because no matter how much epochal pathos she builds into her songs, if you cut it away, what remains is a small, vulnerable song like Leave.
Never gonna dream again
Make sure I never let you in again
If it goes to hell at least it goes somewhere
The marching drums of Now do little to change this common denominator, just as the urge in Overthinking does not. Adna opens her soul and heart in every song. She exposes them to the elements. Fearless and courageous, she faces pain, grief, and fleeting love.
This is the reason why Adna's sound has changed only marginally. It has to be in perfect balance so that her openness to the dark moments of life does not turn against her.
Gentle Changes
The introductory guitar melody is reminiscent of Run, Lucifer's Living. Although this observation would have to be revised: Thoughts is not a new song, but was already included on Night. However, the new interpretation impressively demonstrates the development of her style: delicate yet essential.
Thoughts proves that there is still a change to be seen. The song was the second single announced by Closure. Adna had written Thoughts when she was just 16 years old as a tribute to her Bosnian roots.
Another of his great works is If. A constant increase characterises the song. Starting off quietly and cautiously, If continues to build up to an epochal overwhelm. While Soaked is a typical Adna piece, Hide ventures into a more experimental groove. Introduced by a reverberant, almost sacred chant, Hide then leads into a swaying rhythm. When this chant finally meets this beat, the result is a breathtaking blend of religious rapture and contemporary pop passion.
Where should we go with our longing
If not to each other
One thing in particular could be held against Adna: the multiple self-quotations. Someone for example continues the piano melody from Shiver. A pedant would interpret it as a lack of inspiration. What is more obvious is that the conceptual constraint of the album is broken.
Neither Run, Lucifer nor Closure should be understood as hermetic biotopes. The slow pace of the musical development brings the two albums closer together than one calendar would suggest. The months between the albums fade. In Adna's world, the earth revolves around musical time.
So Someone becomes the final piece of evidence that her music is unique—except in her own cosmos. But it doesn't have to be, because you could get lost in this world forever, this ecosystem full of thoughtfulness, gentleness and beauty.
Night has defined the boundaries. Run, Lucifer has sown the seeds, along with ideas of what spring could look like. Now the first dark, beautiful flowers are sprouting on Closure.
Adna – Closure
Release: 17/03/2017
- Closure
- Overthinking
- Leave
- Now
- Thoughts
- If
- Soaked Eyes
- Hide Me in Smoke
- Someone's Someone
