Abilene released two albums in their existence, the second Two Guns, Twin Arrows I had reviewed previously, and this self-titled album released in 2000. I'll refer to the previous review for more of the background on the band (which was in the Hoover, Regulator Watts, Radio Flyer lineage). When considering that this album's lineup did not feature Fred Erskine (June of '44) as the second album did, it would make sense to lower expectations. But, that shouldn't be the case here. There is such a difference between these two albums that it isn't really fair to compare them and forcibly choose a winner. Considering guitarist/vocalist Alex Dunham's general theme of starting up bands that end up producing only one release, it starts to come together why such a difference exists. This album is much darker and moodier than any of Dunham's other releases. The music is striped down, plenty of bass and drums/percussions that simply repeat a primary theme with brief offshoots (i.e. cymbal hits, drum fills, bass lines or breaks, etc.) while the guitar also maintains a less chaotic feel (compared to other Dunham bands such as Regulator Watts), and the vocals are often mumbled or expressed with little effort, kind of a cross between something you'd expect from a shoegazing sound and Quaalude ingesting Nick Cave. I'd lump it in the giant "post-punk" arena, but would limit any further reading into the sound from that. The songs are incredibly isolating, I really can't picture listening to this album with another person, maybe if hours or days into a cross-country drive where you've ran out of things to say to each other and the surroundings are pulling your attention into your recesses of your mind, but apart from that I'd this album is perfectly paired with times of isolation.
Abilene - "October"
"October" is the longest song on the six song album, coming at 8:33 minutes long. It's partly because of its length that it presents so well within this album. It completely sums up the strongest elements of the album, pretty much everything mentioned above describing the album on a whole appears in this song. It's a steady pace of guitar over the bass and drum lines. A break at the three minute mark enters in solo reverberated guitar, followed by bass, and percussive play on a clearly recorded ride cymbal, snare, and bass drum. There's a playful bit of interaction between these instruments from here forth, with the bass being the steadiest of the group, while both the guitar and drums balance each other's additions. Guitar building in loudness, is later followed by the percussion and finally vocals returning to provide singing (not all that common on this album) that after reaching it's pinnacle and plateauing out, finally all disappears except the bellowing guitar.
I recommend the following links (Hardcore for Nerds, Fake Jazz) for other reviews and particularly this site (Egg City Radio) for a free download of the album since it is out-of-print and not easily available. I think there is a link at the bottom of the Hardcore for Nerds review to the Egg City Radio zip file of the album as well, so it's there either way.
