You are the reason that I’m staying to crack this code / I think it’s time to let the bomb explode / Have you seen the role that she plays / Nothing makes me feel this way, sings Adam Masterson around the more saturnine “Time Bomb.” The moodier setting of the title track leads into the remaining 11 tracks of the London-born, New York-based artist’s new album.
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Set around a black and white video, shot and directed by wife Anna Gabriel, crystal clear visuals—the ticking of a timer and tracing the “hands of time” with vintage clocks, and other immediate imagery—follow the cadence of the melodic opening.
“I think with videos the intention is to keep it simple,” said Masterson of the more classic tone of the “Time Bomb” video. Filmed at the end of 2022 in the basement of the couple’s home, Gabriel was clear about what she envisioned for the track. “She wanted something up close, in and out of focus,” Masterson tells American Songwriter. “She just rolled the track a few times, and I sang along.” Along with some added stock footage, the couple completed the edit of the video by January of 2023.
Written in segments over the course of three years, and co-produced by Masterson along with James Hallawell (The Waterboys, Graham Parker), Tchad Blake (The Black Keys, Sheryl Crow), Paul Stacey (Oasis, The Black Crowes), Sean Genocky (The Black Crowes, Richard Ashcroft), Ron Saint Germain (Soundgarden, 311), Dave O’Donnell (James Taylor, Keith Richards), Craig Dreyer (Pete Francis, Dispatch), Time Bomb is a big bang for Masterson, merging all his soulful, inquisitive and sentimental musical and lyrical edges.
On the more nostalgic “Bring the Freaks Back,” a song written following the death of Leonard Cohen on election day in 2016, the song pays reverence to some of his artistic heroes and other creative mavericks— Charles Bukowski, David Bowie, John Lennon, and Stanley Kubrick, among others—who made their art long before everything went digital.
Roving around the tender and raging ranges of Masterson’s rasp, Time Bomb is filled with higher hopes from the throbbing “Chains” to the eruptive “Take a Little Love.” Loosely reminiscent of “With a Little Help From My Friends” in feel, the anthemic sermon blooms with its rich backing vocals. And that’s what Time Bomb is all about—the feels, the emotions, and the music—along with Masterson’s poignant collection of stories.
Country, Americana, pop, blues, rock, and more folk all stick together throughout Time Bomb with the mellowed croons of “Avenue Walk” and the roots rock of “Runaway” to a bluegrass tilt on “Rusty Cans and Rusty Alleys.” Time Bomb leaves a double-hit close with the rousing “Cry With No Tears” and “Leaves Against the Sky.”
On Time Bomb, Masterson has ignited something that’s still fired up.
Masterson spoke to American Songwriter about the mostly remote making of the album, adding and subtracting tracks, and how songs just come when they want.
American Songwriter: Let’s start with “Time Bomb” and get into the origin of the track—the story behind it and why it was ultimately used as the title.
Adam Masterson: Originally I didn’t have an album title I was happy with. Time Bomb came into my head for an album title before there was a song. I also felt I was missing a song to open the album so I sort of put it out there that I wanted to write a song that would tie up these loose ends. This was in February 2020 right before the lockdown, I was about to put out an EP in March and was gearing up for an album release later that year. When the pandemic hit it threw everything up in the air. I found myself back in England staying at a studio that had a piano. I started writing this piece of music. I remembered the Time Bomb title I had and it seemed to fit the mood. I wrote it fast and then went about trying to figure out a way to record it. So I had it in my head as an album title first then the song came later.
AS: Most of the songs were ready to go before the pandemic around the time you released your Delayed Fuse EP. How did go about reconfiguring what you had for Time Bomb, as well as adding additional songs?
AM: Things got fragmented out of necessity. I could only record bits at a time. There were several sessions with James Hallawell, and three separate trips to London that amassed 12 finished and mastered tracks. I was very excited at this stage and gung-ho to put out a record. This was going to be the Delayed Fuse album. The title came from a line I lifted from “Take A Little Love,” but for some reason that didn’t happen and the moment passed. I was a bit disillusioned as those sessions had a real atmosphere and magic in the way they came about and I thought the opportunity had passed. I found a publicist in New York who helped me pick up the pieces; her advice was to put out an EP.
One positive in retreating from putting out the album and the limbo it caused was I’d revisited some recordings I’d made with Sean Genocky. We met up again in London and remixed some of these. So the Delayed Fuse album became the Delayed Fuse EP in 2020 and mainly from the Genocky session featuring “Bad Luck Baby,” “Avenue Walk” and “Rusty Cans and Rusty Alleys” (the latter two featured on Time Bomb), which also are featured on the final record.
The EP made me feel I had to get back in the studio again and record more tracks to bolster the album with fresh tracks.
AS: After jumping back and forth between London and New York City to record over the past few years, when did Time Bomb really start gelling in the studio?
AM: I’d met up with Craig Dreyer, a producer who had a studio in Brooklyn, and we talked about putting a session together with some New York musicians. It was the end of February (2020), the start of March, just as the pandemic was hitting. These were firecracker sessions—one day tracking “Wild Wolves,” “Bring Back The Freaks” and a few more tracks that are left in the can. I thought I might have got lucky with a great squad of musicians in the U.K. for the [James] Hallawell seasons but to pull it off again stateside with a great squad of New York players made me feel this was a record that had its own magic, it gave me the confidence and put the wind back in my sails. All I now needed was a title for the album and something to set it all up, and that’s the Time Bomb story I told above.
The Time Bomb session was mainly recorded remotely via correspondence through COVID. This was a completely new experience and way of working as opposed to tracking live with a group of musicians. It put me in complete command, I built the track up layer by layer and I felt like I was on a roll. I sent the stems to Tchad Blake and I remember hearing his mix for the first time—it really blew me away. The pandemic added a challenge as to how to release the record, but I’ve kept writing songs, playing shows, and putting out a few singles, “Wild Wolves” and “Bring Back The Freaks,” to test the water.
AS: After all of this, did the songs feel like they naturally threaded together?
AM: I did the track list one night at the end of last summer. There was lots of strong material that got left off, but I just picked the tracks that seemed to set a mood or felt like they were telling some kind of story as the songs went along. I hadn’t listened back to the material for a while and for once I didn’t think about it too hard.
“Take A Little Love” was originally left off the album but we needed a single to announce the album in January (2023), and I thought it might work for that purpose so it snuck in there last minute in December. I found a place for it in the sequence that I felt worked. “Leaves Against The Sky” also made it on there last-minute. I thought if I wanted to run vinyl down the line, it would be best to keep the album short, but I’m glad that song closes the record. The album was mastered remotely just a few weeks ago. I wanted to run a fade at the end of “Leaves [Against the Sky],” but after many passes at it being sent to me I decided it was best to just let the whole song run.
I feel like a shepherd that’s lost a few sheep with the tracks that didn’t make it on there. Hopefully, they’ll find a chance on something else down the line if they fit, we’ll see.
AS: As far as songwriting goes, did you notice any shift in how songs were coming together for Time Bomb, compared to how you’ve written in the past?
AM: Songs just seem to come when they want to come. It’s different most times. I’ve got one running around my head today. It sounds like a good one. I’m busy with the record release and have been running errands and meeting deadlines, but this tune in my head, just wouldn’t let me be today.
It’s like a friend calling you to go out when you’re trying to stay in and be good. I hope I get a chance to sit down with it in the next few days and let it flow. It’s clearly a song that wants to be written.
Time Bomb Track Listing
- Time Bomb
- Bring Back The Freaks
- Chains
- Take A Little Love
- Runaway
- Avenue Walk
- The Kiss
- Wild Wolves
- Crazy Rain
- Rusty Cans and Dusty Alleys
- Cry With No Tears
- Leaves Against The Sky
Photos: Anna Gabriel
