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Leo Abrahams - Scene Memory
Released: 13th August 2006
Label: Bip Hop
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It’s nice to know that at a time when many bands are out purely to slice their bit of meat off the vastly reducing doner kebab that is the music industry, there are some people out there who are purely and simply creating music.
These unsung heroes and heroines slog their way across the performance circuit, with no expectations beyond giving their music the performance it deserves.
In this category Leo Abrahams is the thinker, a musician of amazing ability and perception.
On ‘Scene Memory’ he feeds an electric guitar through a bank of laptop effects and records in real time, preferring not to edit afterwards.
The effect, ironically, sounds highly polished.
Abrahams himself says the idea of the album is to leave a lot to the imagination. He’s right, but it’s only your imagination that makes something of and completes the music.
‘Route II’ for example strikes me as a haunting, eerie concoction, filled with images of blackened American highways, flanked by darkness on either side and concealing unspeakable dangers.
But then that could be me. You might find it a joyous celebration of the intricacies of boiling water.
That seems a ridiculous thing to say, but that’s where the value of this work lies. You complete the picture.
Now, don’t get me wrong: It’s not to say the album is inaccessible because it’s definitely not.
It’s what you’d call engaging. It’s the difference between watching another Die Hard film or taking in a Lar von Trier film – it engages you, it doesn’t pander, indulge or patronise you in the way so much new music tends to.
‘Scene Memory’ covers the full range of emotional, mood-enhancing music you could wish for and the tracks are of the length that keep you coming back for more.
On tracks like ‘Love Unknown’ it’s pure melancholy and reminds me of Nibs van Der Spuy from the incredible South African band Landscape Prayers (I would urge you to check them out!) Like Nibs, Abrahams uses the guitar to full effect and capitalises on the fact that it’s the most expressive of instruments.
If film technologies were sophisticated enough to perfectly distil emotion, ‘Scene Memory’ would be its soundtrack.
Unmissable.
For more information you can visit: http://www.leoabrahams.com
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