Abe
Sheffield, England, United Kingdom
Music
Press
#96 – Tramlines Teaser Part II
If you’re eagerly anticipating Tramlines as much as we are, then you’ll no doubt have noticed there’s been some big hitting local legends added to the bill recently; Heaven 17, The Kate Jackson (of Long Blondes fame) Group and Steve Edwards are heading up a Sheffield showcase on the Friday evening. It’s a great showing of former Sheffield musical powerhouses, but what of the showing from Sheffield’s current talent pool? Acts more in tune with those born after the 80's? Well that’s where I thought I could be of use, I’d like to draw your attention to my favourite Sheffield band of this last year….
ABE
From the seven hills and matching a pair of muso brothers, a good friend and a host of electronic wizardry ABE make a noise distinctly different from the rest their local peers. I can only assume whilst their contemporaries were enjoying a certain romance with a popular band, from not too far afield, that the brothers Rogers were held under the spell of Animal Collective’s sixth studio album ‘Feels’ and were more than content to stay there. How they came across the work of Tare, Bear & Co in the first place I can’t be sure, but the diversity and vitality of Sheffield’s music scene thanks them for doing so. Taking cues and inspiration from the collective’s ethereal soundscapes, expansive pop and wild leaps of imagination the brother’s sound also encompasses ideas cultivated and pruned from myriad other influences. There’s the obvious nod of affection to Burial and an ability to incorporate the more refined aspects of the future garage and Slo-mo-house movement into their unorthodox palette. Also we have a band that cherry picked the elements of chill wave and dark wave that they feel work outside of a time and fashion limited micro-genre. As you can see above they’re also just as at home in the production studio as they are in the rehearsal rooms. If I were anal, or worked in a HMV I’d actually want to shop in, I’d file them next to Grizzy Bear, Animal Collective, Burial, Yeasayer, Baths, Tanlines and Caribou and say you’d do well not to miss this forward thinking bunch on Saturday of Tramlines at 8pm at Bungalows and Bears. For your delectation and salvation I offer this MP3 as an excuse for an article that does their sound no true justice. - safetyfunandlearning.com
Discography
Still working on that hot first release.
Photos
Bio
“Abe, a young band from Sheffield return home attempting to make the most of their time together…” The pretext of ‘Through with Love’ (the group’s first film) sums up their situation. They have been almost seasonal for 3 years, taking stock in their long time apart and coming back in the summer. It is now easier to work collaboratively from a distance but despite being a mostly ‘electronic’ act, Abe’s reference has stuck from their days in guitar-bass-n-drum bands and they flourish in direct contact with each other.
Abe’s process is a drama of art, highs and lows. They make it the long way round. Key to their sound is a balance of aesthetics from each member’s hard earned claim to the music. On a degraded atmosphere of loops and samples a theatrical chorus coos repetitively with positive emotion, tempered with stabs of keen villainous beats and chords. It’s dark and sweet. Clubbs Coldron’s voice gives the music its narrative cues, warbling with pangs of identity from Plato’s cave.
The band consistently adopts a live formation. It’s about communication. Turned in facing each other, multi-instrumentalist Oliver Rogers and singer both address the crowd somewhat obliquely. Between them Tom faces the audience direct, providing an active interface between audience and performers, something the group observe to be lacking in live electronic music: ”We once saw a guy get out his phone and check it while he was playing on stage!” exclaims Oliver.
They try to think in different ways. Without purposefully seeking out the weird and ironic they explore old and newly chartered grounds, reconstructing their multitudinous influences in their own context. They want to be sincere and interesting. It’s a fraught process but of course it all seems normal to them.
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