Seb Adams releases brand new album

Seb Adams is an alternative rock singer-songwriter who comes from the DIY ethos of bedroom production and is driven by a passion for both classic pop punk and internet-era creativity. Over the years, he’s crafted a sound that’s equal parts nostalgic throwback and modern emotional release, blending guitars, synths, ukuleles and pianos with the sincerity of a late-night diary entry. Seb Adams creates music that hits straight to the heart while still making you want to bounce off the walls.

His self-coined genre, Arcade Pop Punk, perfectly captures this hybrid of high-octane energy and pixelated emotion. From channeling the rebellious rush of Guitar Hero III or the wide-eyed nostalgia of Tarzan and The Lion King, Seb has forged a sonic world that feels at once personal and endlessly relatable.

After making his mark in 2018 with his first single “Nightmares & Flare Guns,” he’s continued to go from strength to strength with a string of impressive releases including 2022’s debut album Between Awake & Fast Asleep. Now returns with Bittersweet Nostalgia, a sophomore record that feels like flipping through an old photo album except every page sings back at you. Drawing influence from bands like Green Day, Fall Out Boy and Jimmy Eat World, the album is a love letter to the ’90s and early 2000s pop punk era, wrapped in a cutting edge package.

The release is brimming with meaningful songwriting, mental health reflections and a childlike love for video games, skate culture and coming-of-age cinema. Take “Rearview Mirror,” the album’s opening track, a celebratory exhale that throws negativity to the curb in favour of growth and perspective. It’s an anthemic entry point to a record that shakes with honest reflection.

On “Guitar Hero III,” he draws on childhood memories, transforming a video game soundtrack into a melancholy anthem of simpler times. There’s “More Than You Know,” a delicate ode to a lost friendship, where Adams’s vulnerable vocal performance shines against stripped-back instrumentation.

Loyalty, growth and heartache are recurring themes throughout Bittersweet Nostalgia, resulting in epic moments like “Worth Waiting For,” which offers up a dose of optimism amid emotional turbulence. It’s one of the album’s emotional high points, later reprised in a stripped-down version to close out the record on a quiet, hopeful note. In between, Seb Adams frames the messy middle of growing up with “Man In The Mirror,” a track tackling addiction and heartbreak without ever losing the melodic drive that runs throughout the album.

What’s perhaps most compelling about Adams’s work is his refusal to stick within genre lines; every track is built around what the story needs, sometimes it’s a punky guitar riff, sometimes it’s a soft piano line or a synth-tinged bridge. The result is a sonic patchwork that mirrors the album’s title, a collection of memories, contradictions and life lessons stitched together with heart. With Bittersweet Nostalgia, Seb Adams reclaims the past, transforming adolescent chaos into a cathartic, hook-filled journey of healing and rediscovery.

Listen to Bittersweet Nostalgia below