Gloria Steinem once wrote that “without leaps of imagination or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities.” The fervency of possibilities is palpable on Adam Miller’s new EP Illusion Pool.

Building upon the foundation of Chromatics, and his 2022 ambient guitar album Gateway, Illusion Pool marks the first release in years for Adam where his vocals step out into the spotlight. Produced and recorded by collaborator Mikal Oor and Adam in their home studios and mixed by Daniel Knowles (Sharon Van Etten, Cigarettes After Sex). Illusion Pool includes guest appearances by The Cure co-founder Lol Tolhurst playing drums on the EP title track, as well as on a cover The Byrds’ “Everybody’s Been Burned.” In addition, Hannah Lew (Cold Beat, Grass Widow) contributes vocals and lyrics to the cinematic “Blood on the Moon.”

“As I was working on Gateway, I had reached a point where I never wanted to write or hear music with vocals or drums ever again, but little by little every time I picked up my guitar, melodies, little bits of songs, and lyrics would keep on revealing themselves to me.”

After being inspired to write songs with vocals and drums again, Miller began diving back into his deep library of unfinished Chromatics material, molding some of it into tracks on Illusion Pool. “It’s been invigorating to revisit these sketches from over the years. In the past, whenever I hit a wall with something, I would usually drop the idea and forget about it, but I’ve loved being able to pick up these ideas from where I left them, years later, with a completely different perspective. When I sang on Chromatics songs, I hated my voice. I would endlessly explore ways in which I could mask it behind a fortress of effects. But over the past few years, I’ve finally learned to embrace my natural voice. It’s as if my fear of my voice (which prevented me from completing these ideas) vanished. Now it feels exhilarating to be so exposed.”

“Most of the music of the title track ‘Illusion Pool’ was written by Mikal. I had taken mushrooms one night while listening to Mikal’s demo. As the mushrooms started kicking in, the lyrics and vocal melodies to the song suddenly appeared. It felt like they were downloading into me from somewhere else and I was simply the conduit for them. That moment marked a major shift in my life, where I opened up to the mysteries of creativity, drawing on where I had come from, and where I wanted to go. The surface of the illusion pool had been shattered.”

“‘Everybody’s Been Burned’ – written by David Crosby prior to his departure from The Byrds - has been one of my favorite songs since I was a teenager. I had a feeling it resonated with Lol so it felt right to ask him to try playing drums on it. It goes without saying that it’s been a dream come true having him perform on these recordings. The early Cure albums that Lol played drums on and co-wrote are some of my favorite records ever made. I still can’t believe this even happened.”

“‘Camera’ is a Chromatics song that my band, Inner Magic, and I have been performing live. We integrate a few Chromatics tracks into our set. I love reimagining them in a fresh light, so this rendition of ‘Camera’ included on the EP is the version that we play live. It’s been liberating to perform this redefined version.”

“‘Blood on the Moon’ was an instrumental demo I had written years ago, originally titled “Blood on the Sand,” about a dream I had when I was seven years old. Mikal and I put in a lot of hours reshaping the music but it didn’t really come to life until I sent it to Hannah. She took the concept of the working title and changed it to ‘Blood on the Moon.’ That small edit allowed the song to crystallize into an identity of its own. I am so moved by Hannah’s lyrics to the song. They’re about the struggle of nature to exist in a world subjugated by greed and commerce. Hannah and I have worked on a lot of music together over the past couple years and I’m looking forward to sharing more of it.”

“The last song on the EP ‘Vincent’ is my tribute to Vincent ‘Vini’ Reilly of The Durutti Column. The Durutti Column has been the soundtrack of my life for decades, like a close friend who has always been by my side. I hope that one day I can play the song for Vini. During the pandemic, I was able to tell him directly how much his music means to me.”

The music on Adam’s latest EP Illusion Pool consolidates all of Adam’s prior art – the Vini Reilly/Michael Rother inspired guitar meditations, the presence of another vocalist, the use of vocoded vocal treatments in the recording process. But this EP charts another path forward, another possibility: Adam’s voice, unencumbered, and finally on its own.