Single Review - Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson - 'Adam & Eve'

Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson, the Australian husband and wife duo behind 2008’s excellent Rattlin’ Bones, are very sneaky. They’ve mastered the ability to create songs that appear simple in construction, yet reveal their true complexities after multiple listens.

“Adam & Eve,” the (sadly Australian only) first single from their forthcoming Wreck and Ruin (due out in October in the States), is just such a song, detailing a fabulous story of forbidden love against the backdrop of the Garden of Eden and “the first man to live and breathe.”

The crisp songwriting is the bedrock here, balancing details of the familiar biblical verse with enough original touches to make it feel brand new. My favorite of these elements is the naughty sense of wrong that penetrates throughout. It gives the track a somewhat slinky feel that’s best exemplified in the couple’s devious move to get out of dodge:

If he could see us

What would he say

But he was resting on that seventh day

She met a serpent right afternoon

He smiled at her and

She broke the rules

Come on we’re leavin’

No time to waste

The Garden of Eden’s

No longer safe

“Adam & Eve” is as much a mini play as a song and I love that it creates it own quirky world for the listener to play in. The prohibited love affair is constructed so ambiguously, that Chambers and Nicholson invite the listener to use their imaginations to fill in the details. Are these star-crossed teenage lovers escaping disapproving families? Or a couple deep into an affair, jetting off after a spouse finds out? That we don’t know is the real genius, as crafting our own reality makes the song that much more enjoyable.

The production only enhances the overall gratification, as it becomes a third character within the story, helping to move along the plot as grows in intensity. The use of swampy banjo is delightful as it perfectly complements Chambers and Nicholson’s vocals while the inclusion of fiddle smartly increases the tension after the couple escapes one reality for another.

If there’s one downside to “Adam & Eve” it’s the length. Clocking in at 3:05, it seems kind of short and could’ve benefited from being drawn out just a bit more. But the brevity also works in the song’s favor by keeping the proceedings simple and clean, a fact lost on most of what passes as music these days.

Grade: A+ 

Listen to “Adam & Eve” here

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