{"id":46421,"date":"2022-03-01T11:30:58","date_gmt":"2022-03-01T16:30:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/?p=46421"},"modified":"2022-03-02T03:16:38","modified_gmt":"2022-03-02T08:16:38","slug":"how-isolation-led-adult-to-becoming-undone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/how-isolation-led-adult-to-becoming-undone\/","title":{"rendered":"How Isolation Led ADULT. to Becoming Undone"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Photo courtesy of ADULT. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Since the late 1990s, ADULT.<\/a> has gained a cult following of devotees drawn to the Detroit duo\u2019s genre-blurring, dark electronic music and knack for tapping into complicated, relatable emotions and situations. Nicola Kuperus and Adam Lee Miller hadn\u2019t planned to begin work on a new album so soon after the April 2020 release of Perception is\/as\/of Deception<\/a><\/em>. Yet, by the fall of the first pandemic year, the pair had commenced writing what would become their ninth full-length album, Becoming Undone<\/em>; both releases draw from very different types of isolation.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOnce we realized that there was no light at the end of the tunnel, we were like, okay, let\u2019s make a new record,\u201d says Kuperus by phone from Detroit. But unleashing that creativity was harder than anticipated.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When making\u00a0Perception is\/as\/of Deception<\/em>, Kuperus and Miller opted to work\u00a0 in a room they had painted black. It was an experiment in sensory deprivation that left sound as their primary form of stimulus. When the album was released, in the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, record stores were largely closed and tour plans were canceled. \u201cIt was made in a void and it just went into a fucking void,\u201d says Kuperus with a laugh.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where Perception is\/as\/of Deception<\/em> was the result of isolation-by-design, Becoming Undone<\/em> manifested out of an unexpected, but necessary, period of quarantine. \u201cWe had to be so careful because we had cared for my dad through hospice at home,\u201d she explains; her father passed July of 2020. Additionally, her mom underwent cancer treatment and they were visiting her frequently. \u201cWe were literally not seeing anybody. We felt like we had to protect her,\u201d says Kuperus. \u201cIt was a very isolated time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou would think that would maybe help the creativity, but it didn\u2019t help,\u201d she adds. \u201cThe whole timeline of COVID seems so crazy to me. It feels like one big blob. Even though it\u2019s two years, it feels like the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However nebulous, Kuperus surmises that this period of isolation had a big impact on the writing process for Becoming Undone<\/em>. \u201cThere\u2019s no pressure for the songs to be anything other than they want to be,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s not like this has to be a dance song or a crowd-pleaser, because we were just working in such a strange moment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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