Adio Marchant is all about the ‘vibes’.
The Bipolar Sunshine star carries with him a great deal of intrigue and motivation for a singer-songwriter that is just beginning to make his mark in the industry.
In the two years since he quit urban six-piece Kid British, Adio has begun to bed his way in with the big boys and his supporting slots with Haim, Bastille and Rudimental shows his infectious breed of indie-pop is catching on.
Adio cuts a daring figure and, after making his own label with close friend and producer Jazz Purple, the duo started to redefine his way of making music and now, two years on, he is at the first step of the long, winding helter-skelter that is the British music industry.
The star is now permanently based in London, but the Chorlton-cum-Hardy born singer wants to harvest the best of the northern musical talent.
He insists the north-south divide in England also has can stop artists hitting the high notes and claims musicians from his native Manchester struggle to achieve the same attention as they would if they worked in the capital.
“Manchester has a very rigid income structure,” he told MM.
“It’s a circus, as musicians need money, but agents need money and the labels need money so with Manchester it doesn’t quite have that bigger scale that music does in London.
“But I want to build my label here, it’s where I established it and I know how vast and interesting the Manchester music is, I’m trying to find artists that will really make me want to sit up and listen.”
While he begins touring all over the country, and the US (Adio played the legendary SXSW Festival over the summer), he feels that people might be missing something by not paying attention to the Manchester music scene.
“There’s something happening here,” he said.
“Manchester is the home of music, people work much harder here for it, but they do need more opportunities, we need to break down these barriers.”
Adio is back in town for sound equipment kings Bose, who were launching their Urban Conductor in Deansgate’s The Great Northern, and he is excited to get a chance to perform at this kind of open-air event.
“It’s quite special to play here, it’s almost at the side of Manchester because it’s not in a venue,” he said.
“But the thing about playing this kind of area is that you can get everybody dancing and experiencing the vibes.
“I’m just very happy to be a part of something like this.”
As a boy, he grew up surrounded by the booming 90s Manchester music scene and discovered his industrial love for music.
Now as an artist, he’s played all his favourite venues in the city – but still returns to connect with music lovers, he’s never been interested in being an outsider.
For Adio, it’s a case of the closer the better.
“I always want to move forward, I never tailor my songs to a particular fashion because I believe my voice and what I’m saying tailors the songs for me,” he said.
“My music is not about trying to be someone else, it’s bared, it’s all me”.
Songs like Fire, a deeply personal ballad covering the throes of a relationship, awaken his spirit when he talks about it.
“It means the most to me, it’s my favourite to play live because the vibes I get from the audience show me the power of the song,” he said.
“Deckchairs [on the Moon] is the most fun because it’s all about letting loose, just being who you are in the moment.”
Adio doesn’t have a release date for the new Bipolar Sunshine album that he’s been working hard on for the last year – but he’s deeply enthused about the potential of the material that he’s written so far.
“I want it to be one of those classic albums that you could listen to on a Sunday morning but also on a Friday night when you want to be in the mood to go out,” he said.
“I feel it’s rounded, there’s a shape there – it’s not just industry-designed singles. But I may put some of my singles in so people can see the platform I’ve come from.”
Adio is a ray of sunshine in the musical world so his moniker fits nicely.
His charisma is something to behold and his passion for his music is something that, while obvious, is also a treat from an artist with such raw potential.
However, what he wants most, is to know that his fans learn from his songs and understand the situations he’s been through.
“The situations I talk about are ones we’ve all been through, or will go through, in some capacity. My music is about sharing that feeling and really connecting the vibes from me to the fans,” he said.
Image courtesy of Bipolar Sunshine VEVO via YouTube with thanks
