Adeline Hotel shares “I Will Let Your Flowers Grow” and how to let go

On September 27th, Adeline Hotel, the moniker of Dan Knishkowy plus a semi-consistent group of close friends (who all happen to be amazingly talented), will release Whodunit, the project’s latest studio album. Reflecting on the aftermath of a divorce, the album is the opposite of a typical separation album. It’s introspective, explorative, and overwhelmingly positive. It’s an album of renewal.

Sonically, Knishkowy’s albums have ran the gamut from fingerstyle acoustic guitar to spiritual jazz. This album, to me, feels most closely aligned with Solid Love, my introduction to Dan’s sound- a straightforward indie pop romance, augmented by Bridgid Mae Power’s incredible vocals. This record harkens back to that, more stripped down than his last two records, Jackie West’s accompanying adding another gorgeous layer to the acoustic strum that harkens back to Good Timing, and the Piano more a la The Cherries are Speaking. The result is striking, intimate, and hopeful. And if you’ve read previous interviews with Dan – yes, there is a fruit mention on this record, too.

Listen to the penultimate single, “I Will Let Your Flowers Grow, as you read Dan’s responses about the album’s direction, the way forward, and how to navigate those big life changes.

This album is very lyric-forward, with soft acoustic guitar and piano adding decoration and letting the narrative shine. What was your intention for the sound?
I think partly that’s indicative of letting go of certain self-conscious tendencies—I used to feel a deeper need to prove something with the guitar, to showcase something difficult in order for a song to be good, but I’ve let that go. The only goal is emotional resonance, and whatever gets us there is good for me. So, for this album specifically, it was clear to me the resonance was in the narrative, and any and all arrangement flourishes could only be justified if they helped get that across, rather than obscure it. 

It’s also a very collaborative album, with a roster of your friends adding instrumentation, even though it feels rather solitary, given the nature of the concept. How did you start out – writing solo, then sharing with friends, or were there any instances of the inverse?
Everything was written quickly, stream of consciousness, little to no editing. I brought it to people I could trust to treat the subject matter respectfully, and who I knew had an instinctive understanding of my musical world. As with most albums, once we get to that point, I try to just get out of their way and let them surprise me. I do think they helped me understand the songs better, and both inside and outside the music, were deeply supportive of me throughout the process.

The liner notes speak to “refusing bitterness” after the end of a marriage. What’s your advice to someone going through any kind of separation? Oy. Just take it as an opportunity to learn as much as you can about yourself in the healthiest way possible. 

How did the concept of a whodunnit story appear to you?
I wrote that line (“and I put on a whodunnit”) very off-handedly because it just happened to be what I was doing, but it became the framework for the album. Especially in “Whodunnit” and “Isn’t That Enough?”, the songs unravel like a collection of clues being pieced together, trying to understand what happened and who’s to blame. In the end, I think the point is that it’s really no one’s fault, just a domino effect of circumstances, flowers that grew in different directions.

Do you have a favorite mystery novel or film?
Hmm, favorite TV shows are probably Shetland, The Bridge (original Swedish), maybe Trapped (Icelandic). My bandmate Winston will disown me when he reads this heresy but I do have a slight preference for the American remake of The Killing instead of the Danish original. Currently reading The Honjin Murders series by Seishi Yokomizo.

This song particularly – tell me if I’m misreading the metaphor – to me seems to be about letting go with grace.  How do you do that?
You definitely nailed the metaphor, but as for doing that…it’s tricky, and definitely a non-linear process. I do like the “I will let your flowers grow, I will let myself go” refrain, because the second line has that double meaning. Is it referring to losing myself within the confines of a relationship, or letting myself go free from that? I definitely wrote the song with the intention of “grace”—the reality I think is a bit murkier, but that’s okay too, it’s good to be aspirational, hah! Even when I later realized the song might be more fiction than reality, it was helpful to me as something to aim for, and that’s enough. 

No two Adeline Hotel albums are alike. What’s the next frontier for you?
Yeah good question—I have three things in various stages of conception or completion. I recorded an album two years ago that I abandoned because I couldn’t resonate with the subject matter while making Whodunnit, but we do have plans to finish it soon. I have a ton of songs for a new album, which I see as kind of the sequel to Whodunnit, and they are very warm and inviting, I think. And then one much more experimental piece that I’m working on that’s totally unrelated, but on that one, I will keep the mystery for now!

Pre-order Whodunit, out 9/27 on Ruination Records