Biography
Adorable surfaced on the scene precisely as England's shoegazer movement began to recede. The quartet assembled in Coventry, England, during the final months of 1990, with Piotr Fijalkowski on vocals and guitar, Robert Dillam on guitar, Wil on bass, and Kevin Gritton on drums. Their dense, glistening guitar textures prompted comparisons to shoegazer touchstones My Bloody Valentine and Ride, yet the clearest imprint came from Echo & the Bunnymen, reflected in Fijalkowski's strained and somber vocal style that echoed Ian McCulloch. The band made no secret of this allegiance in the British music press; Fijalkowski remarked in one interview that the Bunnymen outranked even the Doors.
Adorable tracked their debut single, "Sunshine Smile," in 1991, but the run of 800 copies stayed unreleased. In January 1992 the musicians crossed paths with Creation Records founder Alan McGee at a Coventry pub. The encounter produced a contract, and "Sunshine Smile" finally reached stores in April. NME named it Single of the Week while the track climbed to number one on the independent charts. The same self-assurance that set the group apart from interchangeable shoegazer acts soon began to grate on critics.
The band's first album, Against Perfection, appeared in 1993. A month-long American tour followed, yet friction between Creation and its U.S. partner SBK left Adorable caught in the middle. Although the record entered the Top 75, sales fell short of expectations and reviewers—possibly still put off by the group's bravado—offered little praise. Once Sony assumed control of Creation, the label pressed Adorable for a follow-up that might justify continued support. The resulting 1994 album Fake arrived without the earlier record's sharp self-assurance and quickly faded. Creation dropped the band, and Adorable disbanded a year later. In the late '90s Fijalkowski launched Polak.
Adorable tracked their debut single, "Sunshine Smile," in 1991, but the run of 800 copies stayed unreleased. In January 1992 the musicians crossed paths with Creation Records founder Alan McGee at a Coventry pub. The encounter produced a contract, and "Sunshine Smile" finally reached stores in April. NME named it Single of the Week while the track climbed to number one on the independent charts. The same self-assurance that set the group apart from interchangeable shoegazer acts soon began to grate on critics.
The band's first album, Against Perfection, appeared in 1993. A month-long American tour followed, yet friction between Creation and its U.S. partner SBK left Adorable caught in the middle. Although the record entered the Top 75, sales fell short of expectations and reviewers—possibly still put off by the group's bravado—offered little praise. Once Sony assumed control of Creation, the label pressed Adorable for a follow-up that might justify continued support. The resulting 1994 album Fake arrived without the earlier record's sharp self-assurance and quickly faded. Creation dropped the band, and Adorable disbanded a year later. In the late '90s Fijalkowski launched Polak.