If you pull up Adron’s music on your computer and hit “shuffle,” there’s a good chance you’ll hear birds chirping.
What you might not realize, though, is that those aren’t real birds.
“[Making bird noises] is a goofy talent I have,” said Adrienne McCann, the voice behind Adron. “I like putting them in the music sometimes because it’s always nice to cue the listener into a visual setting for a song. It puts you in nature, in the forest or on an island, which is always nice when you’re actually stuck in traffic or hunched over a laptop in a coffee shop with your headphones on.”
McCann, bird sounds and all, is set to perform Thursday at Green Bar.
McCann’s introduction to music came when she started taking piano lessons at just 4 years old, but she’s always known that a career in classical music wasn’t for her.
“When I was really young all I knew was I wanted to be whatever the Beatles were,” McCann said. “The objective was always to be a performer and songwriter, and it’s just been a journey since early adolescence going through different phases and tastes, putting ideas together to eventually get to the kind of music I write now.”
Critics often note that McCann’s music has influences of Tropicália, a late 1960s Brazilian artistic movement merging elements of traditional Brazilian music with rock ‘n’ roll. While she wouldn’t personally consider herself a Tropicália musician, McCann said she appreciates the genre’s vivacity.
“That era of music changed my life,” McCann said. “Tropicália, even if you don’t understand the language, has so much youthfulness, humor, color and vibrancy in it. It’s more alive than just about anything I’ve heard coming out of the northern hemisphere in the last 20 years.”
Although English is her first language, McCann sometimes writes songs in French and Portuguese to capture a different type of personality within her music.
“Some songs are just begging to be in certain languages,” McCann said. “There are some songs that, as they come together, just demand a certain feel to the lyrics.”
“Organismo,” McCann’s sophomore album, dropped in November 2011 following her 2007 self-titled debut and her 2009 EP “Burdwurld.” McCann said the songs of “Organismo” reveal a snapshot of the world through her own eyes.
“‘Pyramids’ is about how I always cheer up when I think about the fact that pyramids are a thing that actually exists on this planet, and that while I’m sitting here feeling sorry for myself, pyramids are off somewhere existing,” McCann said. David Allen, Green Bar’s talent booker, learned of McCann’s music through their mutual friends in Atlanta’s underground music scene, where Adron is based.
“[Adron] is fresh and totally non-commerical,” Allen said. “She’s working within a style that isn’t really made anywhere in the U.S. There’s no precedents suggesting that what she does has any breakthrough potential; she does it because she loves it.”
McCann’s music creates the perfect mix of wonder and excitement, Allen said.
“With Adron, people don’t know whether to dance or stand gaping,” Allen said. “Her songs can be very danceable, but her vocal delivery is enrapturing. Sometimes you want to dance, sometimes you just take it all in.”
McCann’s live shows differ in their sound and overall feel depending on that particular night’s line-up; however, she said she always tries to stay true to her original recordings.
“I do tend to play the songs the same way every time, and to me that’s a good thing,” McCann said. “I write the song to communicate a certain thing, and I want it to communicate that every time. I don’t improvise much. Music is a very deliberate thing for me.”
Thursday will be McCann’s second Tuscaloosa performance, her first being a show at Green Bar back in August. So far, Tuscaloosa has welcomed her with open arms, she said.
“It was the night most of the college kids were just moving back in town for the school year,” McCann said. “But there was a great crowd and they were so appreciative. It blew my mind actually. [There were] some incredibly nice folks at that show. I can’t wait to come back.”
Adron will headline at Green Bar at 10 p.m. The show is 21+ with no cover.
