Abronia to Release The High Desert Sessions June 30
I was hoping I guess that at some point in the last 24 hours, Oregonian heavy Americana psych purveyors Abronia would post a track from their upcoming release, The High Desert Sessions, which they make efforts to distinguish from 2022’s Map of Dawn (review here) and whatever their next full-length will be, focusing on the open nature of the reclusion-jam experience, going away to the proverbial cabin in the woods — or in this case, the high(est) desert — to improvise and explore as one might in that less-distracting context. No such luck.
Fortunately, the description below from Feeding Tube Records‘ Byron Coley goes pretty deep in discussing the makings and results of this experiment on the band’s part, broadening the expectations of those familiar with their general songwriting modus while hinting at some of the personality aspects that carry over therefrom. As to whether or not opening track “Moving Furniture” lives up to its name in Abronia relocating a couch so they have room to jam, we’ll just have to wait and see.
From their Bandcamp:
ABRONIA – The High Desert Sessions
Releasing June 30th on cassette via Feeding Tube Records and CD-R via Cardinal Fuzz.
Recorded onto cassette 8 track in Central Oregon by Abronia. Mixed and Mastered at Torch Toucher by Eric Crespo.
From Byron Coley:
After recording three studio albums (two of which — 2019’s The Whole of Each Eye FTR498 and 2022’s Map of Dawn FTR669 — we were honored to co-release with Cardinal Fuzz), this amazing Portland OR sextet decided to try something different. An experiment. They packed a vanload of gear and headed out to a rural house in Central Oregon with an 8 track recorder. Besides their standard array of axes, they also brought various “little instruments” as well as acoustic strings and percussives of various stripes, then spent three full days jamming from very early to very late.
There was a lot improvisation, instrument swapping and musical hijinkery quite different from their standard approach. This resulted in a dozen tapes filled with all sorts of ideas and sounds, and the band started fiddling with them as soon as they got home. The High Desert Sessions is the result.
The music is arranged into two side-long suites, which ramble around some very weird stylistic junctures, ranging from dusty slide guitar segments to loud roars of rock aktion, dissonant blares of jazzoid skronk and dreamy smears of shimmering sunshine avant-pop. There are also a few winks of the massive drum/guitar dualism for which Abronia is known. But most of this tape explores previously unvisited sonic regions.
The High Desert Sessions’s first side offers a relatively unhurried flow, the flip has more squirrely segmentation, but it’s all cool as hell. And heard as a whole, it may augur some new points-of-interest that Abronia might be visiting in the future. Or not. Because that is the nature of experimentation. But it’s very hep to have this aural peek into their ongoing process. Especially because it all sounds great.
Can’t wait for the next album!
1. Moving Furniture
2. Thrushes
3. No Time for a Fire
4. Rough Eyed J.E.R.K.S.
5. Open the Door for Water
6. Winged Seeds
7. Rolling Mass
8. Target Practice
9. Barely a Season
10. Liar
11. Artemisia
12. Hot Spirits
https://www.facebook.com/AbroniaPDX
https://www.instagram.com/abroniaband/
https://abronia.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/CardinalFuzz/
https://cardinalfuzz.bigcartel.com/
https://cful.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/FeedingtubeRecords/
https://feedingtuberecords.bandcamp.com/
http://feedingtuberecords.com/
