by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
Portland’s Abronia make psych music that incorporates influences from around the world. It’s a comprehensive mix of mind expanding music that while located in the pacific Northwest, pulls influence from the Saharan desert, Canterbury folk, and spaghetti Western soundtracks. A sound without regionality, the band toss in elements of drone, jazz, and pastoral doom to create something that feels lost in time and space, a psych rock escapism, colored outside the lines of perception. Set to release Map of Dawn, their third album and second for Feeding Tube Records and Cardinal Fuzz, the band recorded the album amid the pandemic, civil unrest, and environmental issues. The weight of modern life can be felt in the heaviest moments of the album, but the band are more than capable of transversing this reality for another one, an existence that feels further pushed into the ether. There’s so much attention to detail, from space and tonality, to structure and resolve. Map of Dawn takes note of limitations and uses them as frameworks, with every moment of the sextet’s music building a kaleidoscopic atmosphere swirling with desert dust.
“Night Hoarders,” sets the tone immediately, a slow burn that feels adrift in a vast cosmic landscape, with a barren twang and ominous psychedelic leads. The band, which features twin guitars, pedal steel, tenor saxophone, bass, and one big marching band drum, played with legs like a floor tom, are able to pull at reality with layers of grace, moving between surreal, ethereal, and stony realities. They embrace styles as needed, giving texture and nuance to their music, but never relying on any one element too heavily, as evident on the Saharan groove of “Games” or the Jefferson Airplane via surf rock indebted sound of “Plant The Flag”. Just as soon as you think you have their sonic stew pegged, they’ve warbled onto the next, with a natural ease that makes every move feel as though it was destiny. From the Morricone washes of “Invite Jeffrey Over” to the funeral horns, bent melodies, and outlaw dread of “Caught Between Hives,” the band never loosen their grip on the mood they’ve built, even as elements blur in and out of focus.
TOUR DATES:
05/29 - Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios (Record Release show) w/ Death Parade, Mouth Painter
06/30 - Zagreb, HR @ Club Mochvara
07/01 - Bologna, IT @ Freakout
07/03 - Munich, DE @ Neitzsche-Keller
07/04 - Berlin, DE @ Schockoladen
07/05 - Kusel, DE @ Schalander
07/06 - Rouen, FR @ Le 3 Pieces
07/07 - Hastings, UK @ The Piper
07/08 - Birmingham, UK @ Supersonic Festival
07/09 - London, UK @ 229 London
07/10 - Manchester, UK @ Retro Manchester
07/12 - Bristol, UK @ The Crofters Rights
07/13 - Brighton, UK @ Hope And The Ruin
07/14 - Paris, FR @ Olympic Cafe
07/15 - Saarbrücken, DE @ The Silo
07/16 - Stuttgart, DE @ Eastfilly Fest