Agent: Corrado elborracho.bookings@gmail.com
For their great third LP, this Portland OR sextet heads deep into the scalding sun of what feels like the Sonoran Desert. There is an edge to the fried guitar and the ever more massive drumming that evokes a parched ritual of psychedelic worship. Perhaps this has something to do with the fact initial rehearsals took place outdoors, during which time the Pacific Northwest was on fire (both in the forests and on the streets). When you know this fact, you can begin to appreciate the smoke as a compositional component.
Abronia’s line-up has not changed since 2019’s The Whole of Each Eye (FTR 498), but their sound keeps evolving in terms of both depth and connection. The percussion achieves a true otherness here. Both Shaver’s Big Drum, and the additions of pedal steel player Rick Pedrosa, create a central pulse that’s impossible to resist. The bass and guitars, slither through the haze, raising up for massive strikes at times, just laying back and waiting at others. Different instrumental slices of this album might remind you of anyone from the Gun Club to Savage Republic to Amon Duul II. But Keelin Mayer’s vocals are more of a presence this time as well.
Occasionally, there’s a way her voice combines with the coiling Eastern-tinged string parts and lazy propulsion that reminds of Grace Slick’s pre-Airplane band, the Great Society. But she is just as likely to conjure up visions of Scream-era Siouxsee, surrounded by gauzy clouds of guitar.
Still, the collective brunt of Map of Dawn is bracingly original. It doesn’t really sound like anyone else. Abronia have developed a nuanced and totally addictive approach to creating song forms. I’m just hoping I’ll get a chance to see them live some time soon. Music this good should be a fully immersive experience.
–Byron Coley, 2022
SOME PRESS:
“Throughout the entirety of this record, overdriven rusted guitars slash like daggers while a tenor sax skronks and mourns through quivering waves of cold pedal steel and Keelin Mayer’s unpredictable siren call of a voice. Together, these sounds, aided by the elemental mixing work of Billy Anderson (known for being behind the board for stoner and post-rock legends like Om and Sleep) have a grand depth that is absolutely cinematic in scope. When you listen to these songs, you can easily imagine them being the score for grand Jodorowsky desert scenes or a Sergio Leone-fronted Mad Max film.”
–RECORD CRATES UNITED
“The band continue to create visionary music from dimensions beyond, carefully constructing mind expanding sonic landscapes that traverse great distances as they unfold. It’s the kind of record you can get lost in and once you’ve found your way, you just want to be lost again.”
–POST-TRASH
“Seemingly formed in a sonic crucible; this melange of Krautrock, spaghetti western soundtrack, psych drone, post-punk, rock and free-jazz comes together in a spiritual/ ritualistic setting to take the listener off into realms that only they themselves can hope to understand… the music acting as a catalyst to shift you away from your reality using methods that are far from routine. This is a unique and satisfying album which perhaps needs quite a few listens, but rewards you once you’ve broken through to the other side.”
–FRAGMENTED FLANEUR
“Anyone who’s caught Portland six-piece Abronia in a live setting can attest to the mysticism prevalent in the band’s tribal oeuvre….the group harnesses ethereal psych flourishes and fluid atmospherics into their musical sensibilities, offering a potent aural wormhole that often leads to trippy results.” –VORTEX MAGAZINE
Review of “The Whole of Each Eye” in German:
http://reverbisforlovers.com/review-abronia-the-whole-of-each-eye/
“Obsidian Visions/Shadowed Lands blows in like a desert wind, complete with bruising skies and flashes of lightning. Tinges of psychedelia lurk at its edges, out in the shadow of the buttes, where hippy hermits still cling to their faded photographs of Grace Slick and Janis Joplin.”
–ECHOES AND DUST
“To say I enjoyed ‘Obsidian Visions/Shadowed Lands’ is an understatement….it is a magical album that defies categorization and pigeon-holing, one that is based on spirituality and mysticism. At the beginning I mentioned that the aim was transcendence and I think they’ve achieved it…this album transcends..it transcends what we believe music to be – it takes music beyond ‘nice sounds’ and ‘pretty melodies’ and into a whole different sphere. This is music that can take you away into landscapes undiscovered…” -DAYZ OF PURPLE AND ORANGE
“.Abronia affect a meditative attitude, and concentrate on an exploratory feel within their tracks…there’s no question they establish themselves here as a cohesive unit of songwriters with a definite story to tell through their work.” –THE OBELISK
“…This was the first time I heard of Abronia, but wow, this is amazing stuff…Abronia is a six piece band from Port- land, Oregon consisting of two guitars, pedal steel, tenor saxophone, bass, and a 32” marching band drum with floor tom legs on it and it is clear they know how to use these instruments. Sparsely using vocals (but at the perfect time) and mixing the saxophone in makes this an amazing psychedelic listen.” –FUZZY SUN
“On Abronia’s debut album, Obsidian Visions/Shadowed Lands, the lack of a proper kit doesn’t seem to hold the band back in any way—if anything, the thudding percussion anchors the music to its primitive inspirations. Sprawling instrumental intro “The Great Divide” showcases the group’s nimble ability to mix spaghetti-Western soundtrack music with Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd psychedelia.” -WILLAMETTE WEEK
“Album opener “The Great Divide” opens the gates with fume and fury, pure free fireball skronk jazz, like Sun Ra‘s Arkestra gathering in the Sahara, summoning the djinn, the lightning, sandstorms, and howling winds, with furious blats of what sounds like tenor sax.” –FOREST PUNK
No shows booked at the moment.
