Low Millions gets personal Leonard Cohen’s son leads new group at UM Thursday

Every singer-songwriter draws on his or her experiences to some degree when writing.

Adam Cohen has taken that to an extreme.

The debut album by Low Millions, the group that Cohen founded and fronts, is called “Ex-Girlfriends.” That’s because the 11 songs on it are about past relationships of Cohen’s.

Cohen, 31, refused to call them “failed relationships.”

“They produced songs that I can move people with, and that I enjoy singing,” he said in a phone interview while traveling between tour stops in Detroit and Cleveland. “They create a great premise for conversation with people, a great level of intrigue among complete strangers, because it’s such an identifiable subject.”

How do the subjects of his songs, such as “Eleanor,” “Julia,” “Hey Jane” and “Nikki Don’t Stop,” feel about this new exposure?

“Anybody likes having a song written about them, whether it’s good or bad,” Cohen said. “It appeals to the great inner chambers of someone’s vanity. The general reaction [among his ex-girlfriends] has been excitement and giggliness.”

Only a portion of Low Millions, Cohen and guitarist Michael Chaves, will visit Maine soon, opening for Vanessa Carlton in a 7 p.m. Thursday show at the Maine Center for the Arts in Orono. The band’s bassist, Jorgen Carlsson, and drummer, Eric Eldenius, both originally from Sweden, are working on other projects during the monthlong tour.

Cohen described their opening set as “an inventive, intimate rendition of an otherwise dynamic, explosive modern-rock record, tempered for Vanessa Carlton and her audience.”

Cohen made a name for himself with a solo French-language project that he recorded for EMI Canada. When the company’s executives showed an interest in his English material, he put together Low Millions out of a group of musician friends who kept running into each other on the Los Angeles music scene.

The son of noted poet-balladeer Leonard Cohen, he grew up in places as varied as Montreal, Paris, Greenwich Village and an isolated fishing village in Greece.

Cohen pointed to three factors that led him into a career in music: genetics, conditioning and fate.

“Obviously, I have a real love for it,” he said. “You don’t get anywhere in music without patience and a thick skin. It’s not nearly as lucrative as people think it is.”

Cohen’s father is a big fan of the Low Millions album.

“He believes this is my best work as of yet and is quite happy about it,” Cohen said. “He’s amused that we have records out at the same time, which are sometimes reviewed in the same magazine. He’s proud, and I’m proud of him as well.”

What’s next for Low Millions is up in the air.

“As more stations pick up our singles, as airplay gets denser, I think opportunities will be coming to us,” Cohen said. “We have tours in place, but none are locked in at the moment. What’s surely coming is the whole band playing bigger and bigger stages.”

Cohen also wants to keep his solo career going.

“It’d be great for Low Millions to get so big that they’re looking for an opening act,” he said. “I’d hire me to do it.”

Tickets for the Vanessa Carlton-Low Millions concert are available at the Maine Center for the Arts box office or by calling 581-1755. Dale McGarrigle can be reached at 990-8028 or dmcgarrigle@bangordailynews.net.