Artist: Adam Ross
Title: Berkeley Street
Format: digital
Cat#: Fika117SG2
Release date: 14th April 2026
Bandcamp
Fika Recordings are pleased to present I Never Thought You Couldn’t Not, the second single from Adam Ross’s forthcoming third solo album, Bring On The Apathy.
The song is a sprightly folk-pop number led by harp, violin and crisp tape-recorded snare drum. Drawing on stylistic inspiration from the likes of The Beautiful South and Jonathan Richman the song finds Adam in a cutting mood and opens with the lines “You lack the charisma to be a cult leader but you’re knocking it out the park with your bad ideas”. The cynicism continues with lyrics like “We all know by now that none of us love people, we all know we only love ideas” and “the path to the summit is littered with the bodies of the easily distracted and the self-aware”.
As Adam explains “There’s definitely a sort of jaded edge to the lyrics on this album, but I tried to enjoy it and have some fun with that feeling. Obviously ‘Bring On The Apathy’ is quite a jaded title so I guess people will have fair warning! With this song, I didn’t want to be too direct or literal with the lyrics but the inspiration came from a feeling of alienation in the modern world. With online culture, ideas and emotions and messages can feel really one-dimensional and shallow. I guess it’s the curse of short-form content - everything has to be dumbed down and squeezed into a 90-second clip or less. Everything is presented in such a surefire way, with such certainty and confidence which can feel quite alienating for people who struggle with those two things. I was trying to respond to that feeling and maybe parody it slightly.”
As the song progresses, the lyrics continue to tumble out, presenting Adam’s particular brand of scattergun philosophy, all neatly tied up with the double-negative of the song’s title. “My songwriting process relies heavily on having an ever-evolving notes document on my phone with song ideas, snippets of lyrics, rhyming couplets and lines that I like the sound of. This song was a bit of a jigsaw puzzle of delving into the document and arranging different lines until it felt right”.
The music was recorded onto tape, using traditional analogue techniques with audio engineer and tape-recording specialist Samuel J. Smith. In an increasingly digital musical world, Adam was seeking a more organic and human experience when making this new record. The finished album, Bring On The Apathy, showcases some of the most emotionally open, lyrically deft and characterful songwriting so far from one of Scotland’s most accomplished writers. The vintage recording approach brings a warmth and intimacy to a record which is in equal parts raw and organic while also beautifully arranged and performed as Adam is joined by a raft of excellent collaborators.
The core band consists of Owen Curtis-Williams on drums, Cameron Maxwell on bass, Pedro Cameron on violin, Gillian Fleetwood on harp and (long-time collaborator with Randolph’s Leap) Pete MacDonald on piano. Mercury Prize nominated artist C Duncan was drafted in to write and perform backing vocal arrangements along with Amanda Nizich and Gillian Fleetwood.
“I love these musicians. It’s the kind of record where you can listen multiple times and focus on a different instrument each time. Each player is doing something inventive and beautiful without ever overshadowing what the song is trying to convey.”