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Adam Ferris

@adamferris613

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Singer-songwriter who loves to read.
📖 The Sea,The Sea by Iris Murdoch

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BELIEF is out NOW everywhere you stream.

This song and the following songs on the upcoming EP In Between the Shadows have been a labour of love, loss, and faith. This song and the ones that follow mean a whole lot to me and I am very proud to share BELIEF with you today.

This recording would not have been possible if it weren’t for some good friends helping me to record and get this tune out into the world’s ears and hearts.

Firstly, @k_shed_original has been a stand up dude and a very creative man and friend. He not only recorded and helped arrange this track, he also played the drums and lead guitar. Anyone who knows about Kevin’s songs with @stoby613 knows that he is a talented musician and artist. Belief is another example of that. Thank you Kevin. Big hugs to you my friend.

You may also probably recognize the voice that sings along with me on this song. It is of course @maryse_betournay from Stoby. I’ve sung on a few Stoby songs before and I’m happy now to say that Maryse has sung on one of mine. (and maybe a few more on the EP 😉) Thank you for offering your singing talents to this track. I love how it sounds.

Kieran has been a solid friend and great bassist for several years now. We played together in Redpoll and Outfielder and he generously offered his time to record the bass for this song. I always love working on songs with Kieran. Thank you so much Kieran for all the bass you bring into my life.

Lastly, thank you to the life experiences that broke me down and from which point I found a way to express myself in this song. I am so thankful to have music in my life as a way to process feelings in a way to connect to myself and hopefully with others. After all of these years of writing, recording and playing music, I am still very much in love with the process.

Thank you again to Kevin, Maryse, Kieran and all of you for taking three minutes and forty three seconds out of your day to listen to my new song BELIEF. If you’re so inclined, please feel free to add it to your playlists, share or listen on repeat if you so desire. ♥️♥️♥️

#singersongwriter
#independentmusician #bookstagram #ottawamusic #newrelease taken in Ottawa, Ontario by @adamferris613

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7 months ago

“People’s paths aren’t so different from animals’ paths, I thought. We’re all attached to our habits. And every creature’s path has two endpoints.”

Every once in a while I feel like I’m making up for lost time reading all the books I wish I had read in my younger days. Then I get pulled from that fantasy and into the reality of the gift of being a middle-aged man and coming across James Elkins’ Weak in Comparison to Dreams. While making our way through subjects such as pacing, punding, Bayesian frameworks, celestial paths, modern avant-garde composers, animal and human habits and behaviours through realism and surrealism, the themes of aging, memory and illness are the primary focus. This wonderfully engaging book follows a year in the life of Samuel Emmer investigating behaviours of animals in zoos, interspersed with his haunting dreams.

“These fires were not an infestation, that had to be stopped, an illness to my dreams. They were the image of my own life. I myself was burning my life away. I was burning bridges, memories, relationships. I was wrecking my life, and each night my dreams showed me the results. This was my own diseased world. [...] A person doesn’t live his life in the full glare of some deep insight, but in the smoke of everyday confusion. A person may come across a real truth about himself, but it hurts and so he forgets it. In that way a person can mistake a thought that could save his life for a bent twig on the forest floor. We live by stepping around obstacles, I concluded, as I stepped gingerly down the slope to avoid the spreading fire.”

WICTD played to my cerebral and emotional literary preferences along with prose and humour that will last, well I guess I’m not sure and only time will tell. For now I know that the multimedia use of pictures to enhance and drive the narrative, along with musical pieces that are best listened to while reading said passages, made for an engaging experience throughout. These pictures and music are not a gimmick, they provide a real enrichment to an already engrossing narrative. These words, pictures and music are well intentioned, creating a memorable reading experience.

(Continued in comments) taken in Guelph, Ontario by @adamferris613

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2 days ago

September Reading

The Sea, The Sea by Iris Murdoch

“I don’t despise women, I was in love with all Shakespeare’s heroines before I was twelve.”

Charles is an egotistical, narcissistic, obsessive man in his sixties who has moved to a strange cold house by the sea. Used to the hustle of London and the theatre scene, the quiet brings up haunting memories of old flames. Some of which are memories, and others that still exist in the flesh. Murdoch writes with a richness in her characters while exploring the baffling nature of memory and love. Reading this with @libra_libris has been enjoyable with both her enthusiasm and experience for all things Iris.

Weak in Comparison to Dreams by James Elkins @jamesprestonelkins @unnamedpress

“When you lose your place in the world, you suddenly wake up, as if your normal life has been a dream. At that moment I was the man who came to his senses midway along his life’s journey, in the middle of a dark forest.”

Dr Emmer works at a water plant and is now visiting zoos to investigate stereotypical behaviour of animals in captivity. Oh yeah, and he is falling apart as his family is as well. I’m not sure where this is going, or what the point of it all is, but I can tell you that I am enjoying the writing and the story so far. Is this a fiery descent or a burning wake up call? I am all in for whatever it is and here for the ride.

Gospel SInger by Harry Crews

“Look after the direction of your soul, and the world will look after itself.”

Harry Crews’ ability to weave a story was enthralling and engaging throughout. This rich southern tale about sin, penance and the soul builds a spiritual tension well worth the climax. Highly recommended.

#harrycrews #thegospelsinger #irismurdoch #theseathesea #jameselkins by @adamferris613

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16 days ago

Blood Money by Anna Seghers X Lucy Jones @nyrbooks is out September 22

The summer of 1932 was a very tumultuous time in the Weimar Republic. The Nazis had been building momentum, as many people were looking for a way out of poverty and despair after the First World War. Blood Money is a tale of that time in a small village in the area near the Rhine, where Yohann Schulz is hiding from the law after being accused of killing a police officer in another town.

Anna Seghers, is a German author who started writing this book in 1932, and finished it in 1933 while in exile in France. Part of what makes this story even more chilling is the fact that Seghers was writing this story in real time about the battles amongst the members of the community and the vying for support by both the Nazis and communists. She writes about the ways that society shifts, alters, and seemingly naturally becomes more violent, the closer the Nazis get to gaining power.

There are dynamic and diverse relationships at play in Blood Money and some obscenely melancholic and violent scenes. Especially the fourth part of the fifth chapter, where Schuechlin’s wife is out wandering the woods. This part of the book was easily some of the most beautiful and despondent prose I have read in any book this year. In fact, it was so well written that I went back to read it again, and it was equally as gut wrenching, the second time through.

Do I wish the book was a bit longer? Yes, to explore more of the wide array of characters. Or, the book perhaps would have been better suited with a tighter cast. However, understanding the setting of the writing of this book, the sense of visceral urgency to Blood Money is both palpable and understandable. This makes for a furious and feverish story about events building up to the 1933 elections. Seghers shows how hardship and desperation in communities can lead to violence and submission, when any kind of change is offered as a way out. She writes about the ways that dangerous ideologies leave the citizens wary of each other, and have their way of playing out, far worse than originally planned. Blood Money is a story about good and evil and the masks they wear. taken in Germany by @adamferris613

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a month ago

The Recognitions opens with a dramatic scene and, for the next nine hundred-plus pages, keeps up the pace in this literary thriller exploring postmodern themes of love, obsession and acknowledgment. In truth, there are many more ideas such as the pursuit of truth through art, religion and consumerism, the life of the tormented artist, idolatry, miscommunication, material wealth, addiction, attention-seeking, authenticity and yes, recognition. In fact, the book itself mentions the words recognize and recognition over fifty times in the book. (Yes, I tabbed and counted)

This post only skims the surface of the wonder contained within the pages of The Recognitions. That being said, Gaddis exhibits a truly expansive knowledge and with these bits at his disposal, The Recognitions is flush with imagery and symbolism, creating parallels amongst characters and history to create a powerful representation of the contemporary world. At times certain personalities seem to be depicted as figures of faith, or perhaps God personified. At other times, there are portrayals of the sinning nature of being human. Mixed with the advent of a powerful consumerist society, everyone is striving, scheming and plotting for acknowledgment and riches while every artist, every person, battles personal demons to explore the spiritual aspects of creating and consuming.

This book is a sprawling, spiritual journey through contemporary themes we grapple with to this very day. The twists and swerves in the plot, along with many laugh-out-loud moments, made for an engaging literary experience, maintaining my attention throughout. At the centre of the book is an intriguing ambiguity that leaves it to the reader to decipher the meaning for themselves. Like all great literature, it is greater than the sum of its parts.

The Recognitions is about the balance of our humanity and the spiritual aspects of our existence, whether we are chasing riches, connection, God or recognition; Gaddis writes magnificently about the dance between seeking and being. The Recognitions is a truly remarkable and unforgettable book.

#nyrbsummer
#nyrbclassics #therecognitions #williamgaddis #bigbookreading2026 taken in New York City by @adamferris613

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2 months ago

Eau the Music is playing at House of Targ next Wednesday September 2nd, with Crow’s Feet and Adam Ferris! Get your tickets on Eventbrite (link bio) for a night of dream pop, alt pop, and fuzz…

@houseoftarg
@crowsfeetisaband
@adamferris613

#ottawanightlife #ottawamusic #livemusic #alternativerock #dreampop by @adamferris613

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2 months ago

Today, I am getting on a plane to follow my heart ✈️❤️ and I can't wait to visit my favourite Libra ♎ ❤️
See you soon Rykel 😍 XO

WORTH THE WAIT

I’m dreaming how about you
I’m dreaming about you
The way you twist and turn on sheets
When you are dreaming of me
The way that you continue to
Loving me the way that you do

You are worth the wait

Plane’s leaving on my way to you
I’m screaming what a beautiful view
The way you wait and twist your hair
Standing for me at the gate
I’m On the runway let me out
You’re waiting there for our embrace

You are worth the wait
You are worth the wait

The weight that I have carried
The weight over the years
I waited until now and here to finally see things clear
This wait is getting shorter getting nearer by the day
I know now more than I ever did

You are worth the wait
You are worth the wait

#libra #trinidadandtobago
#bookstagram #love #singersongwriter taken in Trinidad and Tobago by @adamferris613

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2 months ago

"OH DUKE" by @adamferris613 recorded August 14 2026 @avantgardebar #livemusic #uneditedvideo #avantgardebar #songsaboutcats #adamferris taken in Avant-Garde Bar by @adamferris613

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2 months ago

"Belief" by @adamferris613 recorded August 14 2026 #livemusic #uneditedvideo #avantgardebar #adamferris taken in Avant-Garde Bar by @adamferris613

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2 months ago

What are you reading for #NYRBSUMMER and #WOMENINTRANSLATIONMONTH?

“And now friends, stay tuned for drama with the impact of reality.”

I have spent the last month pleasantly buried in the encyclopaedic, comedic thriller that is The Recognitions. And after a few years of sitting on my shelf and contemplating the dive in, I did so this July, and my reading experience has been rich and fulfilling thus far. With under 150 pages left to read in this big boy, I am feeling bittersweet about coming upon the ending. Gaddis’s novel has truly engrossed and enraptured me for a truly #nyrbsummer. I will tell you more about it when I’m done. However, I will tell you that if you read the first chapter, you'll be hard-pressed to put it back down.

For #witmonth , Abigail and Nick at @nyrbooks sent me review copies of these two new exciting upcoming September releases. Both of these books are reading priorities celebrating #womenintranslation

Traveling In The Direction of The Shadow by Iana Boukova translated by Ekaterina Petrova is billed as a “kaleidoscopic, metafictional masterwork from the Balkans". I mean the title alone was alluring to me, and the synopsis about “nested narratives”, sign me up.

Blood Money is the latest NYRB release from the catalogue of Anne Seghers translated by Lucy Jones. Taking place in 1932, it tells the story of an accused cop killer seeking shelter in a small village, where the Nazis have begun to recruit. Layered with “suspense and political upheaval", this short novel sounds like it will pack many punches. by @adamferris613

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2 months ago

“Lecherous, despicable, a libertine single-minded in his appetites, who longed for something more palpable than the physical world could offer, until the moment I observed Ada, a ray of God, a celestial light, and was given at last a taste of the infinite.”

The latest from Mark Haber is best read in one sitting. Whether you’re by the pool, in the park or at the beach, Ada is a taut piece of literary fiction that perfectly juxtaposes the high brow with the low brow. In ninety pages, Haber has written a near perfect summer read.

“Great and heroic men are as plagued by nonsense as the rest of us.”

The novella begins with Desacroux IV pacing the Great Room awaiting the arrival of Ada, pondering all and everything: his father’s assassination, Ada’s arrival, civil unrest, his servant Hans, but mostly about Ada in the Sword Closet. Ada is the object of Gerard Desacroux IV’s longing and obsession. Four or five years earlier, after years of lusting and drugging in Paris and acting out his most perverse erotic wishes, Gerard met Ada while shopping for her mistress. The two spent an evening making love and he then vowed his eternal love for her. The next day, Gerard returns, as per his father’s summons, to the territory of Berchtesgaden. Compared to the playground that is Paris, Desacroux IV is not pleased to return to the place he describes as “all mud and hardship, a nation-state between Saxony and Bavaria."

“My father exploded by a catapult while I was in the Sword Closet touching myself.”

What ensues is an entertaining rumination of Desacroux IV’s consciousness that makes for an enjoyable reading experience. Feverish pacing matches his resentment and disgust for his people. Even as a despicable character, perhaps a victim of his circumstance, I couldn’t put this book down. Whether Haber is writing about the ridiculousness of duels, paisley, self-love, or the vice of literature, Ada is laugh-out-loud funny.

NB
This book made me think of The Loser by Thomas Bernhard, The Stronghold by Dino Buzzati, Heinrich von Kleist by Michael Kohlhaas, Candide by Voltaire, and, of course, Haber's other books. taken in Berchtesgaden by @adamferris613

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3 months ago

Happy Birthday Belli!!! ❤️😻🐟🎉🎂

Today Belli turns three years old.

It has been a wild three years for this Princess. However, the last year and a half, the two of us have created and shared a peaceful home with lots of toys and love. I love being woken up by her in the morning and greeted by her stretches whenever I come home. She loves playing with her favourite wand, playing fetch, tag, and of course watching the birds from the window. I love our morning and nite time routines, and all the moments in between. She's even taken to watching baseball at my side. ❤️⚾ She has unapologetically developed her own personality and is sweet, playful, curious and warm. One of the greatest things to happen to me in my forties has been discovering that I love being a cat Dad to Belli ❤️

So far today, she's feasted on some delicious tuna and played with her newest toys. We will for sure both have our sofa naps this afternoon in between more treats and playtime.

Happy Birthday to my furry Princess ❤️

#catsofinstagram #naps #cats #birthday #catdad by @adamferris613

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3 months ago