Lee McAdams – Landmine


Lee McAdams has never been one to color inside the genre lines. A sonic shapeshifter from Providence, Rhode Island, McAdams is known for psych-rock swerves with The Cosmic Factory and rootsy Americana vibes with The McAdams Brothers. But on his latest solo single “Landmine” (dropping June 13 via Squatch Sounds), he rewires his circuitry completely—delivering a funk-laced, rain-soaked reflection that grooves as hard as it aches.

Opening with a skeletal beat courtesy of producer lonlioni, “Landmine” blooms into a textured blend of electronic pop, R&B, and hip-hop pulse. It’s a track that doesn’t shout so much as it sneaks up on you—seductive and stealthy, built around glistening guitar lines that nod to Prince’s Dirty Mind-era sparkle and Beck’s Midnite Vultures weird-soul wizardry.

But beneath the bounce lies something far heavier: memory as landmine, nostalgia as both balm and trigger. “One day / I caught the scent of rain,” McAdams sings, the imagery loaded with sense memory. A sudden whiff of petrichor spirals into a torrent of recollections—lazy beach days, heat rising off the river, a life once lived and still longed for. It’s the kind of songwriting that feels intimate and epic all at once, like a postcard from the subconscious.

There’s a surprising economy in the songwriting here. McAdams doesn’t need walls of sound to make his point; a few well-placed guitar stabs, some synth flourishes, and his layered vocal delivery do the heavy lifting. His performance is confident but never flashy—he lets the song smolder rather than burn, and the restraint pays off.

Where his 2024 EP Anxiety Incarnate was all sharp edges and industrial anxiety, “Landmine” is fluid and reflective. It’s a record about presence through absence, about the ghosts that good weather can stir. And yet, there’s a sense of resilience baked in. When McAdams sings, “Maybe I’m a dreamer / Maybe I’m a landmine,” it lands like a thesis: fragile, volatile, and unafraid of being either.

The song was self-produced and mixed at McAdams’ homebase Squatch Sounds, then mastered at G.l.a Studios. True to form, he keeps the process close to the chest—writing, playing, and sculpting the track with a craftsman’s eye. Even the artwork, courtesy of Ferdy Uno, feels handpicked to match the song’s hazy intimacy.

McAdams may flirt with genre here, but make no mistake—this is a deeply personal transmission. “Landmine” doesn’t explode outward. It seeps in slowly and detonates where it counts: somewhere deep in the emotional cortex.

Best For: Late-night walks, misty mornings, or remembering things you thought you’d forgotten.
RIYL: Frank Ocean, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Thundercat, Beck
Find It: SoundCloud | Bandcamp | Facebook

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