Amiable popster band Aden has released its second album, Black Cow, on Teenbeat, and it’s another prime display of intensely melodic tunes from songwriter Jeff Gramm. In addition to gentle, peppy pop tunes like “New Fast,” “Counting the Days,” and “I Knew You Would Go,” Gramm’s trademark waltzes are in abundance: “Sadness,” “New 3/4,” “Part of a Losing Team,” and “Collapsing” all dance in triple time. Why all the waltzes? “Our drummers always ask the same question,” Gramm writes via e-mail. “I sort of like writing vocal melodies over a 6/8 beat.” The band’s stripped-down sound of clean guitars, rolling bass lines, and lightly tapping drums complements Gramm’s soft voice. The CD’s title seems to reveal Aden’s ongoing bovine obsessionits first CD featured a cow on its cover. “Ha!” scoffs Gramm. “My first choice for the new record’s title was vetoed, so we settled on a silly Steely Dan reference. Sorry, no cow obsession to speak of!”
Christopher Porter