The Squid's Ear Magazine


Abrahams, Chris: Follower [VINYL] (Room40)

A diverse album of compositional work from Australian pianist and The Necks legend Chris Abrahams, in two works of rich ambience and spacious soundscape performed on acoustic and electric pianos, organ, detuned bells and acousmatic sources, contrasted with two more capricious works on acoustic piano, unusual percussive platforms, haunting tones and moody interjections.
 

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product information:

Personnel:



Chris Abrahams-performer, composer


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UPC: 764227626503

Label: Room40
Catalog ID: RM 4162LP
Squidco Product Code: 32613

Format: LP
Condition: New
Released: 2022
Country: Australia
Packaging: LP
Mastered by Lawrence English.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"For more than three decades now Sydney pianist and composer Chris Abrahams has developed a singularly iconic body of work. Known widely for his work with trio The Necks, Abrahams solo works have carved out an entirely otherworldly realm in sound. His explorations of organ, electronics, and piano capture a restless curiosity and timbral interrogation that only deepens with each of his releases.

With Follower, his compositional language further expands. Melodies cascade with a cinematic pacing, spilling out over the top of harmonic electronics and unsteady percussive elements. He creates a sense of opening and space, a field within which we become lost and utterly consumed by the evolving states he casts into focus. On the opening track, "Costume", bass piano meanders through a wilderness of de-tuned bells and organ swells; a strange sort of festival. Low frequency sighs evenly punctuate, like a pump or a heartbeat. It's a procession that takes it time as it wanders the terrain, brought to a close with transcendent distortion.

On the second piece, "New Kind of Border", muscular modal piano surfs among waves of percussion and analog synthesizers. A buffeting travel. Follower is Abrahams's sixth album for Room40 and it showcases his continuing interest in the ambiguous spaces between music and noise; tonality and atonality; rhythm and texture.

All four tracks have piano as a key factor: in one instance, high-pitched and atonal; in another, emotive yet distant as if projected on to a screen. Follower presents the listener with a sound world of colorful juxtapositions, rich orchestration and organically open forms."-Room40


Artist Biographies

"Chris Abrahams was born in Oamaru, New Zealand but grew up in Sydney, Australia.

He became very active in the Sydney jazz scene in the early eighties playing with modern jazz groups including Mark Simmonds' Freeboppers and The Keys Music Orchestra. With Lloyd Swanton he formed the 60's modern jazz-influenced The Benders in 1982. During its day, the band released three albums - E, False Laughter and Distance.

In 1984 Chris recorded and released his first solo piano album - Piano, followed in 1986 by Walk.

In 1985 Chris became a founding member of the Sydney indie rock band The Sparklers. As a result of this, Chris began working regularly with the singer and songwriter Melanie Oxley. Chris collaborated with Melanie, writing songs and producing albums, throughout the nineties. There are five releases with her: Resisting Calm (1990), Welcome to Violet (1992), Coal (1994), Jerusalem Bay (1998) and Blood Oranges (2003).

Chris released a third solo piano album, Glow, in 2001. This was followed in 2003 by Streaming, and then Thrown (2004), Play Scar (2010) and Memory Night (2013).

Chris has collaborated, in both recording and performance, with many contemporary improvising musicians including Burkhard Beins, Mike Cooper and Anthony Pateras. He performs regularly in the improvising music scenes both in Australia and Europe."

-The Necks Website (http://www.thenecks.com/bio)
3/27/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



SIDE A



1. Costume 13:33

2. New Kind Of Border 4:19

SIDE B



1. Sleep Sees Her Opportunity 11:18

2. Glassy Tenseness Of Evening 8:04

Related Categories of Interest:


Electro-Acoustic
Improvised Music
Electroacoustic Composition
Organized Sound and Sample Based Music
Piano & Keyboards
Solo Artist Recordings
The Necks
New in Experimental & Electronic Music
New in Improvised Music
Recent Releases and Best Sellers
Vinyl Recordings

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Room40.


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