In conversation with Adam Day, AKA Hidden States

Adam Day originally found fame as Country Line Runner, with his music featuring in Ted Lasso and praise coming from big names including Marcus Mumford and Stephen Street. In the “highlight” of his career, he even played Hyde Parke when Neil Young was headlining, an experience he “never thought would happen.”

However, it all changed for him when the pandemic restricted the music industry, gigs, production – the lot. Adam recalled how he “was signed to a label in the US then obviously with no travelling and everything that kind of put an end to that.” Forced to reassess, he “sat tight, wrote a bit, and now eventually the first EP is coming out on March 31st”.

Adam first got into music after becoming “a big fan of Oasis & The Verve“, because of their “attitude of getting up and just going for it” which inspired him “a lot as a kid” to start “writing down lyrics then learn the guitar.” He cites his inspirations as “Leonard Cohen, Lennon, Springsteen, and Fleetwood Mac“, a factor you can really hear in his music despite the unique nature of his songs. Another was “Bob Dylan’s ‘Oh Mercy'” which he became a little “obsessed with” at one stage, while Adam’s dream collaboration would be Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks.

In my previous article I described his sound as a unique combination of U2, Keane and Coldplay. Adam stated that someone once “described it like a dark Springsteen”, but he initially viewed his style as a “solid acoustic” that he then “built an atmosphere around… or sometimes the other way around.”

When asked about the meaning of his songs, Adam suggested they meant many different things: “The past, present and future. How life makes you feel sometimes in different situations. They mean a lot to me…. I live in the songs when I’m writing them and that comes back when you play them live but normally I’m onto the next song or situation to not sort of dwell on them too much”. He also highlights that ‘Reconcile’ is an especially meaningful, thought provoking and personal song to him, as it’s “everything about me at the moment… past, present, future, and how I’m still learning to deal with certain things.” He only hopes that listeners will “find something in it for them” and enjoy his music.

Adam plans “to release another EP and start playing live” and is really “looking forward” to returning to live gigs. “Thank you for reading!” He says. “I hope you’re well and you enjoy the EP”.

Reconcile will be released on March 31. In the meantime, you can stream Hidden States‘ latest single ‘Lost Wave’ below: