RadATL Atlanta shows

An evening with Adron comes to Eddie’s Attic on Tuesday, May 6

ADRON: Photo by Katherine McCollough

Atlanta expat Adron is returning to play her first hometown show since losing her home and nearly everything she owned to the the Eaton Fire in Los Angeles in January.

The singer-songwriter is, perhaps, best known for blending Brazilian Tropicália with otherworldly melodies and a voice that is playfully dreamlike and sophisticated on albums such as 2011’s Organismo and 2018’s Water Music.


Since the fire, picking up the pieces of her life has been “insane and somewhat horrifying,” Adron says. Along with her home in Altadena, she lost a lifetime’s worth of art, letters, her beloved aquariums, and relics from her years growing up in Atlanta. It’s the kind of loss that would scramble anyone’s sense of identity. “It’s like losing my whole story,” she offers.

Adron in the home studio that was lost in the fire. Photo by Robin MacMillan

Adron also lost a home studio (pictured above) that she’d spent long hours building out and fine tuning to perfection with her partner Robin MacMillan.

In the wake of so much wreckage, Atlanta was there for her. Countless friends and fans helped her get back on her feet. Now, she’s stepping back on stage—not just to perform, but to say thank you and to reconnect with the city where she will forever be linked. 

Experiencing such great loss has sharpened her connection to Atlanta and to the songs she’s written. “This show will be kind of a big deal for me,” she says. “It’s a test of faith, performing for this audience that’s done so much for me when I feel so diminished. But my music is good as hell—better than ever, even—and it’s crucial that I prove it to all of us, especially myself.”

The show at Eddie’s on May 6 is a homecoming, a reckoning, and a celebration of survival, community, and a spirit that refuses to burn away.
Adron plays Eddie’s Atticon Tuesday, May 6, at 9 p.m. $26.70. No openers. This is an all-ages show.

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RadATL New music

Adron tackles COVID ennui with ‘Song About My Computer’


Adron has rolled out a new single for coping with COVID-inflicted ennui. “Song About My Computer” is a lovely pop mediation on just how much of daily life is spent navigating a complicated relationship with a silicon-based companion, nemesis, and portal to the world and beyond. As with all good pop songwriting there are layers of meaning at work in the title as well as the hook, “I don’t want to write a song about my computer.”

On the surface, it’s a lighthearted ditty. Give a deeper listen, though, and the glow of melodic catharsis weighs heavily against the existential dread projected in the lyrics: “Maybe we’ll pull through / Maybe we’re all screwed.” Or as Adron says: “The song is a whimsical-pessimist take on pandemic loneliness, and how much I miss being a real-life musician, with some shouts out to LA venues I hope and pray will survive the long lapse.”


Every time I press play on the Youtube video the algorithm toggles away from “Song About My Computer” and follows up with “She Sells Sanctuary” by the Cult. I can’t help but wonder if my computer is taunting me or reciprocating Adon’s sentiments by offering its own message of solace in the nuanced barrage of 1s and 0s reflecting back at me.

Whatever the case may be, the accompanying  B-side is a cover of Bruce Hornsby’s 1986 FM cheese hit “The Way It Is.” Adron’s version was originally recorded as a Christmas gift for drummer Colin Agnew (it’s one of his all-time favorite guilty pleasure songs). “The Way It Is” was produced and mixed by Adron in her bedroom in Los Angeles’ Silver Lake neighborhood, where she’s been cooped up since the beginning of the pandemic. The song features sounds derived from the AdLib Music Synthesizer Card—one of the premier pieces of software for  home PCs circa 1986 through the mid ‘90s, and it shows.

“It’s my favorite digital synthesizer,” Adron says. “Obviously, since the pandemic, I’ve been on a bit of a tear, geeking out intensely on early PC game music and the sounds of that era.”

She goes on to say, “Basically, I went pretty far down the road to making an actual chiptune version of ‘The Way It Is,’ but decided to ditch authenticity—as far as what you can truly call chiptune—and sing on it and do effects processing and whatnot, because I was having too much fun.”

Back to “Song About My Computer …” This latest number was mostly recorded in her bedroom as well, all but the drums which Agnew recorded in his Adair Park home in Southwest Atlanta, where he also mixed the song. It also features a touch of the AdLib sound palette, albeit more subtly worked in.

This latest round of songs is a one-off release. Although Adron has recently finished recording a new album. When it arrives remains to be seen.

In the meantime, keep an eye/ear out here for what she likes to call the “evil twin” of “Song About My Computer”—a version of the song that’s arranged entirely using sounds derived from the late ’80s Yamaha PSS-170 toy keyboard. “This is a very dear and beloved sound palette for me,” Adron says. “I have this bizarre obsession lately with remaking a bunch of my songs using all PSS-170 samples.”

Head over to Adron’s Patreon page to check out an ongoing series of scores for imaginary video games she’s been putting together over the last year, and more offerings.

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RadATL New music

Nelward ‘Smash Thru’ feat. Adron

Photo courtesy Nelward and Adron.


Electronic pop songwriter Nelward (born Nick Elward) puts a new spin on embracing inner demons with Eat Your Dreams. “Smash Thru,” stands apart from the seven-song EP’s pastiche of ‘80s pop and early aughts hip-hop, R&B, and IDM productions styles. The song features a guest appearance by Atlanta’s favorite expat songstress Adron, bending vibrant ‘80s pop to ward off what Nelward calls “toxic positivity.”

Electronic pop songwriter Nelward (born Nick Elward) puts a new spin on embracing inner demons with Eat Your Dreams. “Smash Thru,” stands apart from the seven-song EP’s pastiche of ‘80s pop and early aughts hip-hop, R&B, and IDM productions styles. The song features a guest appearance by Atlanta’s favorite expat songstress Adron, bending vibrant ‘80s pop to ward off what Nelward calls “toxic positivity.”

“When I was younger people at school and work would tell me to ‘cheer up,’ even when I wasn’t necessarily sad,” Nelward says. “The idea that we have to perpetually project happiness instills an idea that feeling bad is not okay, which can make mental health issues worse.”

Of course, all of this resonates loudly in the era of quarantine. Adron even recorded her vocal parts from her home in Los Angeles, and the two collaborated remotely. What’s more, many of the EP’s songs — “The Werewolf,” “My Balloon,” and the title track — feed off the normalized sense of dread that 2020 has wrought. But “Smash Thru” is a personally cathartic number. With lyrics such as, “I had a hard time as a kid / And saw some shitty therapist / Who told me ‘Just don’t worry bout it! It’s just you,’” the song takes shape as an empowering number, tackling lifelong issues.

“I like people to interpret my lyrics on their own,” he adds. “But in general, Eat Your Dreams deals with feelings of hopelessness that did not begin but were exacerbated by the circumstances of 2020.”

Press play on Eat Your Dreams below.