Adeline Hotel announces The Cherries are Speaking, goes deep in Q&A on the album

Our friend Dan Knishkowy, known to the world as Adeline Hotel, is back at it with The Cherries Are Speaking—his second album of 2021 and a complete departure from February’s Good Timing, a collection of interwoven guitar wanderings. Featuring Macie Stewart from Ohmme on strings, and V.V. Lightbody, Caitlin Pasko and Eric D. Johnson of Fruit Bats on harmonies, Cherries is a totally fresh direction, understated yet profound and resonant with Dan’s piano playing coming to the forefront to enhance his intellectual lyricism.

You can hear the title track today and read on to learn more about the new album, Dan’s musical strategy, emerging themes, and more. The album is out on October 22 via Ruination Records Co. Pre-order it here.

This is your third pandemic album and fourth release in less than two years. Is this uptick in output just a sign o’ the times?

I don’t know if the uptick is a sign of the times, but the form my records are taking definitely is. I’ve considered my relationship with music a lot in the past year (okay yeah, I mean who hasn’t), and right now, I feel most excited by the idea of building a body of work. I’m thinking of each record more as a chapter in a larger narrative, rather than as a standalone book. I’m trying to be less precious, more intuitive; willing to commit to disparate ideas. I’m happiest working quickly, and leaving imperfections on records causes me less anxiety than pursuing perfection does. Recognizing that made it easier to hone each album’s concepts and trace the threads between them. I have 2, maybe 3, records written next.

Your last release, Good Timing, was entirely acoustic guitar with extremely minimal vocals, while Solid Love was a bit more produced and a traditional song/album structure. Cherries bridges the gap a bit – there are instrumental pieces interwoven with lyrical pieces. What was your intention for this patchwork?

I see them as a trilogy, sonically different but spiritually aligned. Solid Love was an embrace of community—it’s outward facing, collaborative, even joyous, albeit in my own self conscious way. Good Timing is the isolated retreat that comes afterwards, reclaiming the bits of yourself that got lost in the shuffle. Cherries feels like the slow reemergence into the world, both confident and tentative, a fresh perspective to explore old themes in new ways.

I feel that there’s a theme with some late summer releases from folks who usually center the guitar focusing more on piano and other instruments. Can you talk about this shift for you, personally? 

At the start of covid, I tried playing piano for the first time in years. I’m not sure how much intent there was, but when I wrote “We Go Outside” it was clear there was a narrative concept that lived outside some of my guitar songs. I really like working with limits. Playing an instrument I’m not particularly good at results in a lot more space, forcing me to rethink how vocal melodies and arrangements can carry a song. I’m a bit nervous to follow up an album of “all the guitars” with one that doesn’t have any, but that’s where my impulses were. I tried to really make Cherries its own self-contained little world with the woodwinds and strings, the first time I’ve arranged for other instruments in this way.

The fruit theme re-emerges again with the title here, and “Raspberry Stains.” I’m thinking of “Blueberry Fingers” and “Homemade Lemonade” from Good Timing. 

I often repeat themes or lyrics without noticing, which builds some interesting throughlines between albums. The first lyrics on Cherries is “holy visions”—a line that’s lived in my subconscious forever from Judee Sill’s “Crayon Angels”—but that also pops up on Solid Love, and twice on my next-next album. I didn’t realize how much fruit was on my mind until you mentioned it though! 

The anthropomorphic cherries come from a passage in Baron in The Trees, a book by Italo Calvino. The main character decides to live in the trees and have only a selective relationship with the world around him. The book really resonated, particularly during a time of isolation, which can be freeing and stifling in equal measure. I think what Cherries tries to answer is what it means to be apart from the world, but still a part of it. 

I’ve been realizing lately how important album artwork is, for myself as a listener and wannabe-synesthete. It’s clear that the visual accompaniment is always really important to you as well. What can you tell me about the artwork for this album?

Art has taken on more significance to me, particularly during covid when sending a physical object is one of the purest ways to connect with other people. My partner Chrissy did the art for Solid Love & Good Timing, as well as individually hand-sewing the album covers! For this album, the painting was done by María Gordon, an artist who lives in Madrid. She perfectly captured the mystery of the cherries and built an entire world within the piece that both speaks to the album and hints at the possibilities beyond it.

Speaking of Fruit, Eric D. Johnson from Fruit Bats contributes vocals on the title track. Does he appear anywhere else on the album? He’s quietly produced so many of my favorite albums.

He’s on “Raspberry Stains” too, singing along with my friend Vivian from V.V. Lightbody! Their voices worked out so well with each other. Eric’s records have meant so much to me for a long time, so this really is a dream. Speaking of production, the saxes on Bonny Light Horseman definitely made their way into this record, now that I’m thinking about it. 

How did this collaboration happen? 

Recently, Eric was on tour with one of my oldest friends, Johanna Samuels, so we kind of became internet buddies, and I just thought why not! When I originally wrote the verses in “Cherries”, I was already thinking “hmm, is that an EDJ melody?” I kind of had his voice somewhat in mind from the start, but never thought it’d actually work out that way. 

Who else appears on the record? There are some incredible string and brass melodies as well as all the striking piano.

Macie Stewart from Ohmme plays violin and David Lackner plays the clarinet, flute, and sax. Caitlin Pasko sings with me on “We Go Outside”, “Only A Little”, and “In A Simple Way”, and Vivian sings on “Lot To Listen” and “Raspberry Stains.” The rhythm section is the usual Adeline crew, with Sean Mullins on drums and Andrew Stocker playing bass. I’ve made like 15 records with Andrew in my life and this is my favorite bass playing of his, hands down. It’s so funky. The piano is me, the first time I’ve ever done that.

What do you hope listeners take away from this record?

Curiosity, maybe? It’s my second record this year, and on the face of it, the two are fairly different—I’m just grateful to anyone who’s trusting enough to go deep with me and let the records grow together. Personally, I’m very curious about what shape the next record will take, so as long as there are any listeners who feel the same, I’m happy. That’s success, to me.

The Cherries are Speaking is out on October 22 via Ruination Records Co. Pre-order it on Bandcamp.