We are in the process of adding additional information and media to adrianh.net including music samples and performance schedules. If you would like to purchase a copy of the new album Where the Robin Rapes the Sparrow, you can buy it online at cdbaby.com

There are so many weak songs on the radio that have been pasted over with throw-down beats and jigsaw synthesizers. It's as if some slick studio wizard thought he could distract you, overload you and outright dupe you into liking those songs.

That's technology. Historically, advances in gadgetry-the introduction of electric guitars, turntables, you name it-have opened up musical possibilities. But on the flipside, they've given grinds a means to exploit ADD-challenged attention spans and cover up the shortcomings of their work.

A lot of end-of-the-year critical buzz was devoted to bands that jettisoned this trend and resurrected the raw power of garage noise past. Adrian H. has bucked the gizmo game, too, but in a different way.

Adrian H. is a veteran. He has ventured deep into the jungle. He has hacked his way through distortion and mixing sessions, and he has emerged with a personal appreciation for the clean, austere potential of his own piano.

Not that he has snuggled up to the campfire blandness of folk. Nor has he rejected the doomsday heaviness of his roots. He has found a niche for himself, a knack for honing in on the purity of small arrangements.

After years in the Southwest music scene, Adrian H. relocated to Portland Or. from Austin Tx. to write dark modern songs on instruments usually slapped with a classical label. In light of what he is now doing, Adrian H. cites as influences lost lounge parlor souls like Tom Waits and Nick Cave. On a casual listen, his work is as if Brian Eno, instead of writing soundtracks to imaginary films, set himself to producing morbid lullabies.