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ABUNAI!
Universal Mind Decoder
As the opening sci-fi film dialogue sample announces: "Rocket to the
moon!" Whew -- precious few debuts in recent memory accelerate into
the open-ended void of the imagination quite as vividly as this Boston
quartet's. The name means "Look out!" in Japanese, and the album title
refers to the discarded working title of the Byrds' psych masterpiece
"Change Is Now." Classy -- for that matter, the whole project reeks
class (and cool), from the woodcut-style sleeve designs courtesy of
Ptolemaic Terrascope artist Davina Ware to the
anything-is-possible/no-genre-is-fixed songwriting aesthetic that
informs the band to the seamless flow of the psychedelic shimmers,
jams and warps that is the actual music. Abunai! is as comfortable
crafting a celebratory, folk- rocking sea-shanty for green ale
drinkers ("Inspiration") as it is ploughing into a lysergic-laced epic
("77 Gaza Strip") whose expansive melange of organ/synth groans 'n'
whispers, looming basslines, restless percussion and multi-timbred
guitar riffery will set both contemporary spacerockers' and aging
mushroom acolytes' heads afire. In fact, Abunai! clearly aims to
bridge generations, as evidenced by a gospel arrangement of Richard
Thompson's "Calvary Cross" and a very unexpected reprise, psych-style,
of Sandy Denny/Fotheringay standard "Gypsy Davy." Prepping the musical
crew for the return home, a "Maggot Brain" sample crops up near the
end: "Mother Earth is pregnant for the third time..." The slingshot
effect being what it is, then, Abunai! soon completes its trip with a
satisfying, pillow-soft landing: "Cosmo Gun" is all lilt, drone, and
latter-period Spacemen 3 blissout. Mop up that lunar module and meet
on the ledge, lads. We're already lining up for the next
journey. [Camera Obscura, POB 915, Woden Act 2606, Australia] (Fred
Mills)
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