KIRK ADAMS & ED WOLTIL

Kirk Adams & Ed Woltil have long plied similar musical waters in their home turf of the greater Tampa Bay area. Yet it took a pandemic and weekly meetings at a beloved coffee house for their friendship to deepen and lead to a musical collaboration that feels so inevitable you wonder what took them so long to dive in. 

The results are on gorgeous display with Eat the Sunshine, Drink the Starshine, a 12-song feast of melodic gems. A Venn diagram of stylistic preferences shows a big, fat center of shared influences and passions. Beatles, of course. Costello, Squeeze, XTC—check. But hovering around the edges are unexpected hints of Paul Simon, Steely Dan, Peter Gabriel; and swimming just below the album’s sparkling surface are themes of alienation, hope and a restless search for authentic human connection.

Sounds heady, but it’s more fun and immediately engaging than that. Ear worms—and ear candy—abound. It’s artsy around the edges with a propulsive power pop heart. And given such an ambitious stew of styles, legendary XTC guitarist Dave Gregory is the perfect foil to add his trademark inventive six-string icing to the cake on four tracks. Add a cameo from famed Fairport Convention drummer Dave Mattacks and you’re in pop-rock heaven. Eat the Sunshine, Drink the Starshine is chock full of catchy hooks, yet its kaleidoscopic layers reveal hidden musical riches upon repeat listens. Drop the needle on any track and you’ll be drawn into exploring them all.