The latest Adults CD, recorded in 2010-2011, offers 11 brand-spanking-new original songs! Three of those - "This Town," "That's When You Call Me," and the instrumental "Trippy Hippo" - have become regular offerings in our live setlists, so you have probably heard those if you have seen the band in the past year. Overall, the album has a more straight-ahead rock feel than some of the more self-indulgent directions from past Adults CDs. Pete Grennan really shines on slide guitar, a new development in his sound, and you can test your ears by trying to figure out which songs have Chris Grennan on drums and which ones have Gene Tiernan banging away. 2011 was a long and weird year, and there were times it seemed like this disc would never get finished. We are glad to kick 2011 out the door and doubly glad that we have this recording to show for it all. The title track "Karmic Relief" tells the story - we all need a little karmic relief, if not comic relief, any chance we can get it. Almost all of the songs here offer some quirky humor in the face of adversity; "Not All Rotten" reminds the listener that even the toughest of times had some silver linings, and "Hiding in the Light" closes the lyric songs out with the hope that even when things seem at their most confusing, the answer to it all may have been sitting right there in front of you - and it could be love. Really. After that, the only way to end the disc is with the dreamily blissful instrumental "Free Yourselves From This Madness." The source of the song's title appears on the back cover, and if you know Newtown, CT, you will recognize it. The front cover features the hippopotamascot from the Vermont farmhouse where we jam each summer for the Rock'n'Roll Rage. Thanks to Dean Yeager for the artwork and to Jay Greco with demoing "Slippin'" and "Trippy Hippo." Special thanks to all fans, friends, and family, but especially Mary, Michelle, Mary # 2, and Lisa, who was hiding in the light all along.