Talk about starting with a bang. Adaline achieves near Judy Garland levels … Read Full Bio ↴Talk about starting with a bang. Adaline achieves near Judy Garland levels of melodrama on “That’s What You Do Best”, the stately electro-torch song that opens her new album, Modern Romantics. But she doesn’t get there without boxing your ears with wiggy sax (from Shuffle Demon Richard Underhill) and unhinged guitar solos (by Hawksley Workman) on the way, the latter sounding like it was recorded in a reinforced missile silo. There’s a lot of tastefully rendered sonic action on the way to that quivering, love-burnt climax.

It’s what Adaline does best; elegant structures that happen to be wildly hooky. “It’s a pop record,” she says of her sophomore effort, “but certainly not straight down the middle. I have pop sensibilities, but I hope I come across as a little deeper than a pop tart.” Deeper by orders of magnitude, based on the sheer stylistic scope of Modern Romantics, and the quixotic path it takes through sexy, minatory trip hop (“Keep Me High”), smartly built robo-pop (“The Noise”, “Sparks”, “Stereo”), and even the sad-erotic cabaret of “Cost Is Too High (Not To Love)”. That last number is what you might have gotten if David Lynch and Julee Cruise had composed a song for the Eurovision Song Contest in 1969.

Adaline and her collaborators Hawksley Workman, Marten Tromm, and Tino Zolfo have made that kind of record. Modern Romantics is invested with the depth and imagination you only ever get from high-end, ultra-talented music nerds, whether it’s in the meticulously layered percussion and noise – timpani included – of the Metric-gone-industrial “Wasted Time”, or the tonal shifts that bring such deliberate force to Adaline’s cathedral-sized ballad, “Say Goodbye (I Won’t Even)”.

“I wanted to take a very European approach to the record,” she says, adding that she and her busiest partner, Hawksley Workman – who played on and produced nine of its 12 tracks – were throwing names like Portishead, Bat for Lashes, La Roux, Beck, and Goldfrapp around when they entered Toronto’s Canterbury Studio for four weeks. “Groove artists,” she calls them. “I wanted it to sound world class. A lot of people seem to be doing these very chill, laid back, organic records, and I kinda wanted to be a little more aggressive in terms of the sounds and production.”

Adaline was actually so aggressive that Modern Romantics was mixed twice and then sent back for three separate revisions during mastering, “just so I could get the drums right,” she chuckles. “I’m sure my label thinks I’m a little insane.” In contrast, Adaline also points out that Workman booted the overweening habits right out of her in the studio. No more “laboring over every second,” like she did on her acclaimed 2008 debut, Famous for Fire. “He has a very fast, very spontaneous recording method,” she says. “I found that a little stressful because I tend to be more type A. But we balanced each other out.” Workman also teased out Adaline’s “cheeky” side for the woe-is-me-I’m-successful jiggle pop of “Stereo”, while a lot of the vocals on Modern Romantics are first takes. In the case of “Silent Player”, Adaline’s scratch vocal is what you hear, as the song was written and recorded in Tino Zolfo’s Granville strip hotel room with “everyone drunk and puking everywhere” on the street below.

Somewhere in the midst of all this push and pull, Adaline managed to bash together a toweringly impressive record, not to mention a neatly symmetrical one. The final track “Heartache” bookends “That’s What You Do Best” with a real curtain-closer; a hall goodbye that’s lush, romantic, heartsick, and grand. It’s Adaline’s melancholy side writ large – “I was a pastor’s child, I have seen a lot of drama in my life,” she shrugs – and it’s the final touch on a record that’s as deep, as it is wide, as it is breathtaking.

Modern Romantics came out November 1st, 2011 on Light Organ/Universal Records
All songs written by adaline
Produced by Hawksley Workman, Marten Tromm, Tino Zolfo
Mixed by Dave Bascombe (Depeche Mode, Goldfrapp, Erasure)
Mastered by Steve Fallone (TV on the Radio, The Strokes)

-From the band's webpage - www.adalinemusic.com

Adaline is a Canadian musician - she was born in Ottawa Ontario and grew up all over Ontario and moved to Vancouver when she was 15 where she spent 10 years before moving back to Toronto this past year
She has 3 albums out: Famous For Fire (2008), Neo-Noir (2010), and Modern Romantics (2011)

Adaline was also the name of a rock band from Boulder, Colorado.

Entertainer
Adaline Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

When you hold her like you're paralyzed
You say you're just a pretender
And how you couldn't stay with her
Now you've gone to see what you can find
Well I'm the perfect distraction
Just an honorable mention

Oh, ooh, I don't need another one

No, I don't need another one to entertain my heart

Oh, I don't need another one
No, I don't need another one to entertain my heart

When you try to steal the words you say
You're taking lines from the poets
Like I wouldn't have noticed
Well you've upset the tides today
Made them turn in rebellion
With inhuman precision

Oh, ooh, I don't need another one
No, I don't need another one to entertain my heart

Oh, ooh, I don't need another one
No, I don't need another one to entertain my heart

Ooh, entertainer
Ooh, entertainer
Ooh, entertainer
You're just an entertainer

Ooh, entertainer
Ooh, entertainer
Ooh, entertainer
You're just an entertainer

Oh, ooh, I don't need another one (ooh, entertainer)
No, I don't need another one to entertain my heart (ooh, entertainer)
Entertainer

Oh, ooh, I don't need another one (ooh, entertainer)
No, I don't need another one to entertain my heart (ooh, entertainer)

Entertainer
Entertainer

Overall Meaning

In Adaline's song "Entertainer," the lyrics describe a situation where the singer's lover has moved on to someone else and is now trying to come back to her, pretending that he can't be with the new person. But the singer sees through it all, knowing that he's just looking for distractions and playing games with her heart. She knows that she doesn't need another person to entertain her heart, especially someone who just wants to use her.

The first verse shows the singer's ex trying to hold her like he used to, but she knows that he's just pretending. He couldn't stay with the new person, so he's come back to her looking for comfort, but she's not interested in being just an honorable mention. The chorus then repeats the message that she doesn't need another person to entertain her heart, especially not someone who is just playing games with her.

In the second verse, the singer calls out her ex for trying to steal lines from poets to impress her. But she sees through his act and knows that he's just trying to get her attention. The tides have turned, and she's not going to fall for his tricks anymore. The repeated "ooh, entertainer" lines emphasize that he's just playing games with her, and she sees right through it.

Overall, the song is a powerful message about not settling for someone who just wants to use you for entertainment. The singer in the song knows her worth and won't be fooled by someone who can't commit.

Line by Line Meaning

When you hold her like you're paralyzed
When you cling to her with hesitation and fear

You say you're just a pretender
You admit that you're fake

And how you couldn't stay with her
How you couldn't commit to her

Now you've gone to see what you can find
Now you're off searching for something new

Well I'm the perfect distraction
I'm available to divert your attention

Just an honorable mention
But I'm not significant enough to truly matter to you

When you try to steal the words you say
When you plagiarize poetry to impress her

You're taking lines from the poets
You're copying phrases already written by others

Like I wouldn't have noticed
As if I'm not smart enough to see through your façade

Well you've upset the tides today
You've caused chaos and disruption in our relationship

Made them turn in rebellion
Which has led everything to fall apart