Adult Mom, which began as the bedroom pop solo project of Steph Knipe, will release their sophomore album, Soft Spots, next month via Tiny Engines. The group, which now consists of Knipe’s close friends Olivia Battell, Mike Dvorscak, and Bruce Hamilton, released their lead single “Full Screen” off the upcoming album back in March and just shared another single, “Tenderness” a few days ago.
Soft Spots elevates Knipe from the confusion, struggle, and hurt that is evident throughout their debut record, Momentary Lapse Of Happily, and moves them into an exploration of acceptance, questioning, and learning from those past hardships. Soft Spots seeks to create tangible explanations out of intangible emotions, including “Tenderness,” “Patience,” and “Ephemeralness,” which all happen to be titles of tracks on the album. The sophomore record maintains Adult Mom’s signature quality from the winsome nature of Knipe’s vocal to the masterfully-written power-pop hooks, but also achieves a more mature sound, largely due to the addition of a full-band. As Knipe navigates through young adulthood and seeks to understand their gender identity, their music seems to be growing simultaneously, a true example of the art and the artist being one in the same.
In anticipation for the new record, I spoke to Knipe over the phone about the motivations behind the new record, their songwriting processes, Adult Mom’s upcoming tour, and their views on contemporary blog cultures’ influences on musicians.
There seems to be a sort of lightness and openness on Soft Spots. What were your goals and motivations for this album in comparison to Momentary Lapse Of Happily?
I think one of the major motives or concepts I was writing about was how to love. And how to deal with being in love while also dealing with trauma, but trying really hard to be normal or be happy. That’s different than Momentary because Momentary was less about being resolved and more about this is my sh*t, this is just where I am at. Soft Spots is trying to resolve that a little bit more.
When did you first start writing music?
I first started writing music my freshman year of college [at SUNY Purchase] in 2012.
Was it always similar to what you do with Adult Mom or did you develop into that style?
The first song I ever wrote was an Adult Mom song. I’ve never written for any other project or done any other style.
Who were your musical influences growing up? Did your influences differ on Soft Spots as compared to Momentary Lapse Of Happily?
Growing up, I think the most influential album in the world, still, to me was Jagged Little Pill by Alanis Morisette because my dad would play it every day in the car. I still feel like that is something that is always in the back of my mind in a way. I like all of that music in the same vein as well, like Natalie Imbruglia and The Cranberries. Rilo Kiley was the reason why I started playing guitar so I feel like Jenny Lewis has always been in me, in a way. I don’t know if I started to listen to different music for Soft Spots, but I started to be more cautious about how to arrange stuff and what sounded good and what didn’t.
Your songwriting seems to create something big out of something really small. You make these observations about the little moments and expand them outwards. How do you go about the songwriting process? Do you sit down and write about memories, do you note things as you go, or is it just more organic?
I think it can be both. I write a lot of prose and poetry, so a lot of the time I think of a sentence or one line in a song and I write it down on my iPhone notes. I’ll usually always build something off of that. Or, something will happen and I’ll write this insane, terrifying thing in my iPhone notes about it and I will try to pull something out of that mania. Yeah, usually it’s just my iPhone. I have such a hard time with physically writing things down, because I’m a millennial.
Classic millennial. Did you approach writing Soft Spots differently knowing that you had a larger fan base awaiting after the success of Momentary?
I don’t think so. We finished recording it last May, so recording-wise it’s already a year old. I was writing a lot of the songs right after Momentary was released, like over the summer when I was on tour. So, I think I was a little bit more cautious… it was not like an insane amount of backlash but I had some tricky conversations with personal friends and family after Momentary came out. Because I talk about specific people. So, I tried to be a little bit more aware of who the songs could potentially hurt or make uncomfortable. I think that’s something that I was thinking about a little more with Soft Spots.
the “I used to date steph” starter pack pic.twitter.com/PfeI3VN99H
— adult mom ?? (@adultmomband) March 28, 2017
Here’s kind of a fun question. I noticed that you tweeted the other night that you “have more anxiety waiting for [your] name to be called at karaoke than [you] do before playing a set.” What’s your go-to karaoke song?
It used to “Believe” by Cher, but now it’s “With Or Without You” by U2. It’s just the most cathartic song. What’s yours?
Mine’s always “Linger” by The Cranberries. I get so into it.
Ahh, great choice.
Okay so, speaking of stage anxiety, what are you most excited or nervous about for the huge tour with Free Cake for Every Creature, because this is your first time out west, right?
Yeah, we’ve never been. Also, I’ve never even been there as a person before. I’m excited but I’m also terrified. I think less about performing and more about being out for so long and being on the road for a month.
What is the longest you have been on tour before this?
I think like a little over two and a half weeks was our longest thing. So it is going to be double that and then some because I’m doing a tour right before it with Kevin Devine. Yeah, I feel like it is wrapped up in a lot of stuff. I’m scared about the album being released and afraid of how it is going to be received. And I’m a little scared of playing those new songs. It feels like a whole new chapter in my art so it’s just a little terrifying, but it’s exciting.
Who are your favorite artists right now and are there any you’ve been listening to that you feel deserve more attention?
Unfortunately, I’m into a lot of older stuff right now. I think I’ve only been listening to the Weakerthans for like the last month and everyone already knows them. Also just a lot of dad rock. I don’t know what’s wrong with me recently but that’s what I’m into right now.
My friends had a party this past weekend and they did a dad rock cover set. It was hilarious.
Holy crap. Yeah I mean there are so many artists that I know that deserve so much cred like Lady Queen Paradise is my friend Clara’s project and they’ve been working for a while and they’re really great. We’re doing a little weekend tour with them in a couple weeks and I definitely think everyone should listen to them.
Can you talk about the story behind the track “Full Screen” and how your queer identity impacts your art?
I wrote “Full Screen” like two and a half years ago. I was six months off of a break up and the person I was seeing was kind of really straight and really sh*tty about me coming out, I guess. They didn’t understand who I was and it was really jarring. He was also really into porn which I thought was really funny so I wrote that line down “do you full screen your porn?” in my notebook in class and I was laughing to myself like ‘I wonder, he probably does.’ It started making me think about being viewed and essentialized and fetishized and stuff when you aren’t asking for that at all. So that’s where it began. And with the queer stuff it’s like my identity is so weird and strange and I don’t really understand it all the time. I guess a lot of my sound is rooted in trying to figure out my identity, where I fit and what my place is in life.
Ok finally, back to Twitter again. I swear I’m not stalking you, I just like your tweets… you tweeted “sad that art and music can hurt, sad that artists are confined to what a website says about them ya know?” Do you feel that blog culture has become detrimental to bands?
Yeah, I think blog culture is really powerful and has the potential to do a lot of really great things and I know a lot of music writers who are working really hard and writing amazing things about artists. But there’s this pressure to be written about on certain websites and to be premiered on certain places and if your band is not premiered on this website then you don’t matter. There’s like this worth tied into where you are online and it’s really strange because… it’s just kind of f*cked up, it’s like this weird hierarchy thing. Also, people don’t really understand how a lot of these sites have ulterior motives for money and clicks and stuff, so it’s strange to have your art be tied into this like clickbait thing. It’s really reductive. I’m not trying to hate on writers and blogs, it’s just unfortunate. Anytime you’re written about online that’s how people know you and that’s how people read you and you don’t really get a chance to explain yourself. It’s just weird.
Is there anything you want to say so that you have that chance to explain yourself?
No, I’m good. Sometimes I explain myself too much on the internet. I have too much of a platform, someone should seriously take my account away from me at some point.
Here is the full tracklist for Soft Spots.
1. “Ephemeralness”
2. “Full Screen”
3. “J Station”
4. “Patience”
5. “Tenderness”
6. “Same”
7. “Steal The Lake From The Water”
8. “Drive Me Home”
9. “First Day Of Spring”
Adult Mom will play a record release show on May 20 in Brooklyn, NY at The Silent Barn. Below is a full list of dates for Adult Mom’s upcoming tour with Free Cake for Every Creature. Get tickets here.
05/31 — Philadelphia, PA @ Everybody Hits
06/01 — Richmond, VA @ Strange Matter
06/02 — Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506
06/03 — Atlanta, Ga @ Casa Nova
06/04 — Tallahassee, FL @ House
06/05 — New Orleans, LA @ TBA
06/06 — Houston, TX @ Water’s
06/07 — Austin, TX @ Shirley’s Temple
06/08 — Marfa, TX @ El Cosmico
06/09 — Tucson, AZ @ TBA
06/10 — Phoenix, AZ @ Trunk Space
06/11 — Pomona, CA @ VLHS
06/12 — Los Angeles, CA @ Jr. High
06/13 — San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Stop
06/14 — Arcata, CA @ Outer Space
06/15 — Portland, OR @ TBA
06/16 — Olympia, OR @ New Moon Cafe
06/17 — Tacoma, WA @ Real Arts
06/18 — Seattle, WA @ Vera Project
06/19 — Bellingham WA @ Make Shift
06/21 — Missoula, MT @ ZACC (Zoo Arts Community Center)
06/22 — Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court
06/23 — Denver, CO @ TBA
06/24 — Omaha, NE @ TBA
06/25 — Iowa City, IA @ Trumpet Blossom Cafe
06/26 — Minneapolis, MN @ Triple Rock
06/27 — Madison, WI @ TBA
06/28 — Chicago, IL @ Subterranean
06/29 — Detroit, MI @ Trumbullplex
06/30 — Columbus, OH @ Double Happiness
07/01 — Pittsburgh, PA @ Roboto Project
07/02 — Brooklyn, NY @ Knitting Factory
07/03 — Boston, MA @ Once
Soft Spots is out May 19 via Tiny Engines. Pre-order it here.
