WORDS / RACHEL HILL
PHOTO / HEATHER CANTERBURY

Collin vs. Adam’s second album “Bloodsucker” is a groovy dance-pop, punk album that unconventionally shatters the bridge between dark-
disdain and dance. The album cover illustrates the music: the front is full of black with the moonlight straining to shine as a morphed, foggy image hovers above and blocks most of the moon’s light emphasizing the darkness behind the album.  The album, released October 7, 2014, reveals Collin vs. Adam’s upbeat attitude that parallels with a sense of hopeless disparity as the ten tracks are neither black or white but reside in a grey area of bold uncertainty and emotions.

The band began as a synth-pop, two-man band made up of Adam Hogg and Collin Buchanan but eventually added a bass player (Mason Mauldin) and a drummer (Mike Motley). Motley became the drummer for Collin vs. Adam when the band ran into him at a venue. “They needed a drummer so they asked me to join,” Motley said.

The band was “about 60 percent finished with the album in January 2013, when we were scheduled to play at the Arkansas Times Musicians Showcase but we had to cancel our show,” Buchanan said. “Because the day we were suppose to perform we received news that Mason had died in a plane crash.” Buchanan said that Mauldin was a vital part of the album and thinks he would be proud of the finished product. After Mauldin’s death, Brian Wolf joined the band as the bassist/graphic designer.

Once the album was finished Collin vs. Adam sent it to Max Recordings in Little Rock, “Max recordings helped us out by fronting the money to get our album recorded” Motley said.

“Bloodsucker” draws from a diverse array of styles. “The track ‘Information’ is a good example of the album’s diversity,” Hogg said. “The song starts out as a hip-hop song featuring 607 the rapper and then transforms into a rock song.”

607, winner of the 2008 Arkansas Times Musicians Showcase and widely regarded as the state’s finest rapper, has released around 40 albums, “It was great to collaborate with 607,” Motley said.

Norman Williamson is another artist who is featured on “Bloodsucker.” He awakens the song’s pace with a saxophone solo. The album’s lyrics confront sadness and tragic truths, “The songs on ‘Bloodsucker’ associate with a chapter of one’s life, with one emotion exposed,” Hogg said. He
described himself as a bright guy with dark outlets in music. The album may be dark but the beats are filled with jazzy, electric sounds that roll on through the exhaustingly emotional lyrics.

VISIT: SOUNDCLOUD.COM/COLLINVSADAM

Tags