LOVE LIFE is the new album by Adam Whaley

“Love Life” will be available on streaming services for pre-save on June 20 and released on all streaming platforms on July 25.

A limited run of vinyl records (shipping mid-August) is available for purchase here>

I first began to understand the potential worldwide ramifications of COVID in February 2020 when I was in Barcelona with my wife. I snapped the photograph on the cover of this album on that trip. Little did I know that it would mark the beginning of a long break from travel of any kind and the start of the process that would result in this album.

When it became clear to me that I would be staying at home for an indefinite period of time, I decided (like many people) to try to make good use of the time and learn something new. Despite having played guitar for 20+ years at that point, I had mostly played electric guitar and almost always with a pick. For my quarantine project, I decided to dive into finger-style acoustic guitar and to learn songs by James Taylor and Dominic Miller that were previously beyond my skill level. I also began to learn a large catalog of cover songs by some of my favorite artists - with the hope of one day being able to play live shows on my own. Along the way, I began to write new songs inspired by my finger-style practice and the process of unpacking the intricacies of so many popular songs.

Five years on, the result is this album of songs which is a creative cocktail of life experiences, musings on the nature of love, and journeys through the music of those who came before me.

My intent with this album was to make something timeless with a a focus on good songs produced in a way that could have been made any time in the last 50 years. The production is mostly acoustic guitar and voice with a few added synths and pianos. Lyrics are very important to me and I spend a lot of time working out the best way to say things with an economy of language.

While most of these songs are relatively new, a few songs go back 20+ years (Attic, I Hold On, Different in You) and were previously recorded with my band The Morrows. I think these updated versions are a reflection of where I am at this point in my life as a player and singer.

Below is a link to the lyrics for each of the songs on “Love Life”:

Loving You is Only Pain

Different in You

Old Man of the Sea

Harbor Lights

18 Miles

18 miles left

Til an empty tank

That yellow light means

No money in the bank

Driving down

This same old street

No AC

But there’s plenty of the heat

This rusty hood

Is my horizon line

This worn out bench seat

Is where I feel fine

Circumstances

May have put me here

Just take the wheel

And change another gear

18 miles means

Time to think

Signing contracts

With nod and a wink

The fine print matters

When the ink is dry

But no one owns

This little piece of sky tonight

18 miles is a

State of mind

You can drive all night

But you can get there anytime

But that dry lightning

Is just out of sight

I might not ever

Get there tonight

Just take the wheel

And change another gear

Phases

Screaming out into the darkness

As if anyone can hear me

And the moon goes through its phases

And I’m still here

I’m just me

And thats all I can ever be

If you’re out there I can feel it

But its been a long time for me now

And the moon goes through its phases

The ocean sound

The world goes round

And thats all it can ever be

The optimist drowns

While the tides pull him down

His faith still resounds

But gravity knows no bounds

In the end we’re all angels

Crashing into the ground

Looking for the revolution

That we never found

I think I’ve seen all I wanna see

On this particular track

The moon and stars have abandoned me

And they’re not coming back

Faith can live on a razor edge

Until the fan hits the shit

I’ve only got just a little left

But now I see how things fit

The optimist drowns

While the tides pull him down

His faith still resounds

But gravity knows no bounds

In the end we’re all angels

Crashing into the ground

Looking for the revolution

That we never found

Screaming out into the darkness

As if anyone can hear me

And the moon goes through its phases

And I’m still here

I’m just me

Attic

What's in your attic baby that makes you so cold

What does it matter if your story is told

The discipline is breaking down and building anew

A person you don't recognize inside of you

How far you will you take before it drags you down

Is not enough daylight breaking on the edge of your town

If we were still able to break our own chain

I wonder would the lesson still be learned without the pain

I've got a feeling that you've been here before

Just like an apple that is rotten to the core

Your simple beauty is a moon on the wane

You want all the pleasure but you don't want the pain

An eye for a eye is an easy thing to say

But the devil’s in the details when it comes time to pay

Man i've always wanted to just once call your bluff

But every time you tempt me i've already had enough

Sometimes we wanted to

Believe in something more

Sometimes we needed to

Walk through another door

In the end i know

You can never be

More than a reflection

Of the person that i see

Just a reflection

Of the person that i see

I've got a feeling that you've been here before

Just like an apple that is rotten to the core

Your simple beauty is a moon on the wane

You want all the pleasure but you don't want the pain

Here we are again

We’re back on the borderline

One foot in the hole

And it feels like we’re fucked this time

Another chain on the soul

Everyone should just get in line

Nobody goes home

Hanging on to the feeling fine

Just until you get one foot back on

The way back down down

Don’t worry, don’t worry

I know a way home

Just follow me

We can run away

I never wanted to

You never wanted to

We never wanted to beg

(Just say please)

Here we are again

And we’re down on our knees

We can wait until summertime

We can still hit the goal

If look at the whole timeline

I think we’re on a roll

Another hour and I’ll be fine

This time it’s taking a toll

Keep on seeing the blind lead blind

Just until you one foot back on

The way back back down down

Don’t worry, don’t worry

I know a way home

Just follow me

We can run away

I never wanted to

You never wanted to

We never wanted to beg

(Just say please)

Here we are again

And we’re down on our knees

The android’s lament

That smile on your head

Seems plastic and dead

Painted in an obsolete light

The way that you move

Could never prove

That you have any notion of sight

You danced to the music that no one could hear

On the checkerboard floor of Johannes Vermeer

There’s a room all around you, and you’re always here

On the checkerboard floor of Johannes Vermeer

You exist on a plane

Of something like pain

A heart made of metal and stone

The watchmakers doll

The animist’s call

Will the light flicker out on its own

You danced to the music that no one could hear

On the checkerboard floor of Johannes Vermeer

There’s a room all around you, and you’re always here

On the checkerboard floor of Johannes Vermeer

Are your dreams your own

Is your answer phone

The fire that burned, burned twice as bright

But you never felt the heat or the light

The fire that burned, burned twice as bright

But you never felt the heat or the light

The dutch northern light hits a beautiful tear

On the checkerboard floor of Johannes Vermeer

There’s a room all around you, and you’re always here

On the checkerboard floor of Johannes Vermeer

I hold on

It’s 3am and i'm hating this morning

Cause this day is gonna be just like the last

This hindsight vision is driving me mad

And I'm wandering round in the depths of my past

Barefoot thinking

On a hardwood floor

How did time pass me by

I'm standing still

While the world blinks an eye

I hold on, hold on

Though my grip is surely slipping

I hold on, hold on

To your love

Now i can tell that things have changed

By the trees in your yard

And I keep on hoping that your view ain't the same

You know it never was that hard

To keep believing

In one another

While everything fell apart

What could i do

To make my way to your heart

Barefoot thinking

On a hardwood floor

How did time pass me by

I'm standing still

While the world blinks an eye

I hold on, hold on

Though my grip is surely slipping

I hold on, hold on

To your love

I hold on, hold on

Though my grip is surely slipping

I hold on, hold on

To your love

Bag full of blood

Every girl is hair, bones, and flesh

Wrapped up in a skirt or leather and mesh

A mammal with warm blood and opposable thumbs

Living the good life or surviving on crumbs

And every boy is a bag full of blood

With animal instincts who probably would

Do something dumb or something sublime

Depends on the day and depends on the time

And so I stand here

Reduced to my parts

But inside I feel you

With all of my heart

How can a love

So simple and true

Persist in a man

And get lost in you

You’re nothing but skin, and a warm beating heart

Just the tiniest piece of a much bigger part

A fragment of all things, a flicker at night

But the only thing I see, when I turn out the light

And so I stand here

Reduced to my parts

But inside I feel you

With all of my heart

How can a love

So simple and true

Persist in a man

And get lost in you

Loving you is only pain

I’ll be sad today and

Sad tomorrow

I’ll be sad and lonely for the

Rest of the week

And my mind can only

Drown in sorrow

And my mouth

It can barely speak

What I’ve become

Is come undone

Loving you is only pain

Loving me might be the same

This game we play

The race is always fixed

The reviews are in

And they aren’t even mixed

It’s zero stars

For nights in dimlit bars

Don’t recommend

Won’t try again

A waste of time

A passion crime

Loving you is only pain

Loving me might be the same

I got back in the saddle

And learned to love again

Found myself down on the mat

With my arm so firmly pinned

Nine times out of ten

I’m a loser once again

Loving you

Loving you is only pain

Loving me

Loving me might be the same

Different in you

I never understood a thing about you

Your insecurities and I never knew

What made your heart beat because I was insane

You understood the life

Misunderstood the pain

And after all of this we never could be

Two broken hearted people never will see

What made the difference between house and a home

You understood the life

But I need to be alone

And everything is different in you

I don’t know what to say

I don’t know what to do

And everything is wonderful here

Will it ever be the same

Will it ever be as clear

You never understood a thing about me

Or maybe you did but you never could see

What made the difference in me being this way

You understood the life

Misunderstood the pain

And after all this was the best we both knew

I made a fortress of clay inside of you

And as the water broke that vessel of stone

You understood the life

But I need to be alone

And everything is different in you

I don’t know what to say

I don’t know what to do

And everything is wonderful here

Will it ever be the same

Will it ever be as clear

Old man of the sea

For an age I’ve wandered this sandy beach

Looking for something more

In the end I found myself I guess

Wandering on the shore

The years went by and all I see

Is another picture of me

How could it be

Could it be me

The old man of the sea

How could it be

Could it be me

The old man of the sea

How could it be

Drowning in the ocean of my history

Looking for something more

The end is the start of this family tree

And I’m ready for what’s in store

Did the years go by or did I recede

In another ocean of me

How could it be

Could it be me

The old man of the sea

How could it be

Could it be me

The old man of the sea

How could it be

Company loves misery

But only you can keep yourself

Open books don’t read themselves

They just hide among the shelves

How could it be

Could it be me

The old man of the sea

How could it be

Could it be me

The old man of the sea

How could it be

Harbor lights

I don’t want to write any more

Harbor lights love songs

But there’s something missing

That draws me to the sea

The foggy lights and

Ships on the horizon

Reminds me of

You and me

Distance never makes it easy

When the push comes to the shove

Missing someone over miles hurts

And tests the strongest bonds of love

And when I think of you

In some hotel room

It’s out of focus

The borders are unseen

Peripheral vision

In constant motion

The primal feeling

Of a sunset dream

Distance never makes it easy

When the push comes to the shove

Missing someone over miles hurts

And tests the strongest bonds of love

I don’t want to write any more

Harbor lights love songs

But there’s something missing

That draws me to the sea

The foggy lights and

Ships on the horizon

Reminds me of

You and me

Harbor lights

And sunset dreams