Two for the Road: Adam Green & Lissy Trullie

A small portrait of Adam Green adorns the entrance to his East Village apartment, the words “Kafka Lives” written across the top of the framed sheet of paper, painted over by what look like smatterings of diluted watercolor red. “Pete Doherty painted that with a syringe,” says the 28-year-old singer-songwriter. “He wanted to use my blood but I said he had to use his own.” Seated in his living room next to friend and collaborator Lissy Trullie, downtown New York’s latest hope for rock salvation, he motions to a different, napkin-size painting: “Beck’s grandfather did that one.”

Click here for a free download of Lissy Trullie’s track “Boy Boy.”

No wonder Trullie, 25, comes around so often. The willowy rocker, with strawberry-blonde hair and Holly Hunter’s baritone dipped in nicotine, has begun devoting more time to home entertaining with a circle of friends that includes Mark Ronson, Chloë Sevigny and her DJ brother Paul, the Virgins’ Donald Cumming, photographer Ryan McGinley and model Cory Kennedy—to whom credit should be given for introducing Trullie to Green, her then-boyfriend.

On October 20th, Trullie will re-release her critically acclaimed EP (complete with 4 new tracks) Self-Taught Learner (Downtown Records), a spirited rock record that brings to mind Debbie Harry’s style and verve. Green, whose star skyrocketed with the release of Juno, the soundtrack to which featured songs from his now-defunct band the Moldy Peaches, is at work on his next record. Later this month, they will embark on a two-week tour covering nine cities across the U.K., a decision that was cemented after actor-jeweler Waris Ahluwalia challenged Green to cover Biz Markie’s “Just a Friend.” The bathroom at Santos Party House transformed into a rehearsal space, where they met, “drank a forty and learned the song really fast,” says Trullie. The cover, a favorite among the crowd at Trullie’s shows, was so well received that they decided to record it for her album.

Over tall cocktails in the comfort of his reassuringly lived-in apartment, littered with musical instruments, tossed-aside sketches and Garfield paraphernalia—figurines, drinking glasses, a cookie jar and his debut solo album, named after the orange sloth—Green gives his guests a preview of his new collection of introspective songs. “I usually stay in,” he says, “drinking and painting.” Trullie, scanning the room, agrees: “I think that every young kid goes out a lot when they first move here. But I’ve become a bit of a homebody, which I’m not ashamed to admit.”

LISSY’S FAVORITE BORSCHT: Veselka, New York City.

Photo by Danielle Levitt. Styling by Bryan Levandowski.

Left to right:
Tank top by Gap; jacket by Ben Sherman; Adam’s own jeans; dress and jacket by Dolce & Gabbana.
Hair and makeup by Tracy Alfajora for Chanel Cosmetics.