The Able Sea
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The Able Sea

Austin, Texas, United States | Established. Jan 01, 2005 | SELF

Austin, Texas, United States | SELF
Established on Jan, 2005
Band Rock Pop

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This band has not uploaded any videos
This band has not uploaded any videos

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"The Austin Chronicle - Review: The Able Sea"

This local trio's eponymous debut opens with "Western Dreams," eyes almost closed, psych organ rolling over Alex Thompson's daydream vocals. It sets a tone early: The Able Sea is all about keeping things hypnotic, no buildup, just one long thread of melody that stays calm and blue. A distinct 1960s influence, a bit of Sgt. Pepper's magic seasoning here and there ("Thoughts Undone"), permeates the disc, though the double-hit of standouts "Tell Yourself" and closer "Photographs" shows off the psych muscle that should have been mined more. As much as lilting melodies inform The Able Sea, they also leave the album feeling a bit sluggish. Guitar freak-out midsong? Tempo change? They're few and far between but would have given the Able Sea's Sunday morning drift some dynamics.
-Audra Schroeder - The Austin Chronicle


"The Austin Chronicle - Review: The Able Sea"

This local trio's eponymous debut opens with "Western Dreams," eyes almost closed, psych organ rolling over Alex Thompson's daydream vocals. It sets a tone early: The Able Sea is all about keeping things hypnotic, no buildup, just one long thread of melody that stays calm and blue. A distinct 1960s influence, a bit of Sgt. Pepper's magic seasoning here and there ("Thoughts Undone"), permeates the disc, though the double-hit of standouts "Tell Yourself" and closer "Photographs" shows off the psych muscle that should have been mined more. As much as lilting melodies inform The Able Sea, they also leave the album feeling a bit sluggish. Guitar freak-out midsong? Tempo change? They're few and far between but would have given the Able Sea's Sunday morning drift some dynamics.
-Audra Schroeder - The Austin Chronicle


"Space City Rock - Review: The Able Sea"

The Able Sea
With a voyeuristic fixation on meandering, psychedelic soundscapes, Austin band The Able Sea has released a debut album to satisfy that taste. From start to finish, let there be no confusion: this self-titled work is well-primed to make you feel windswept, to hypnotize you. Listener, beware.
The Able Sea is a trio, including Robert Pierson, Alex Thompson, and Robert Fisher, with contributions on the album by Brad Bell and David Morrison. Thompson's voice is sorcery, drifting like a fugitive phantom in the album's opener, "Western Dreams." The rest of the tracks are just as serene -- almost reverent, like prayers. The Able Sea's marching-psych cadence sounds a little sleepy at times, suffering from a comfy-cozy effect that's someone's nostalgic daydream of the late 1960s. The pace isn't paralyzed, it just could use more texture.
I like this Sea. I've heard of a heaving sea, a vast sea, a dark sea, and the slime of the sea, but the is the first instance in my life of an Able Sea. It's a cool sound and rises and falls easily, like the poetry that comes in the record sleeve: "east east is now west west stumbling forward with the best of them not thinking about the next and on he goes across the ocean."
(Scott Petty // 07/22/09)
(self-released; The Able Sea) - Space City Rock


"Space City Rock - Review: The Able Sea"

The Able Sea
With a voyeuristic fixation on meandering, psychedelic soundscapes, Austin band The Able Sea has released a debut album to satisfy that taste. From start to finish, let there be no confusion: this self-titled work is well-primed to make you feel windswept, to hypnotize you. Listener, beware.
The Able Sea is a trio, including Robert Pierson, Alex Thompson, and Robert Fisher, with contributions on the album by Brad Bell and David Morrison. Thompson's voice is sorcery, drifting like a fugitive phantom in the album's opener, "Western Dreams." The rest of the tracks are just as serene -- almost reverent, like prayers. The Able Sea's marching-psych cadence sounds a little sleepy at times, suffering from a comfy-cozy effect that's someone's nostalgic daydream of the late 1960s. The pace isn't paralyzed, it just could use more texture.
I like this Sea. I've heard of a heaving sea, a vast sea, a dark sea, and the slime of the sea, but the is the first instance in my life of an Able Sea. It's a cool sound and rises and falls easily, like the poetry that comes in the record sleeve: "east east is now west west stumbling forward with the best of them not thinking about the next and on he goes across the ocean."
(Scott Petty // 07/22/09)
(self-released; The Able Sea) - Space City Rock


"LOSINGTODAY - Review: The Able Sea"

THE ABLE SEA
(Self Released)
BY RICHARD STOKOE

The Able Sea create music that recalls those heady, hazy days of the late sixties when Floyd and Soft Machine were thrilling the sweaty throng at the UFO club. After a prolonged session of whacked out grooving it’s easy to imagine a need to retreat to some form of chillout room and there’d be no better music to fill that space than this. With it’s gently spiralling organ and hushed-tone harmonies this is an album that whispers to you from another dimension; a dimension that doubles as a rest home for retired Psychedelic icons, where Syd Barrett has exited stage left to leave Nico and The Free Design to play dominoes by the fire, reassuring you that despite the fact that your head is beginning to thump like Sonny Liston and your conscience is slowly becoming gripped by a paranoia that insists you’ve left the oven on, none of it matters. Not really. All that matters is that you’re not alone.

The Able Sea, your friendly Texan shipmates on this technicoloured voyage, are there to hold your hand. You’re not sure where they are, or who they are, but you don’t care. It’s enough to know that they’re around somewhere, calming your heavy soul with their winsome ditties, tunes that could be lifted from a lost Oliver Postgate series. Few are more comforting than ‘Living on the Land’ for which the band set the controls for a scenic trip to the heart of the sun with a tinkling vibraphone echoing Tiny Clanger’s call to a wayward Froglet. Amid all the woozy rhythms and swirling melodies though are some genuinely strong songs, the best example of which is a form of baroque pop that sees Dead Can Dance kicking forward to the summer of ’68, ‘Head on Pillow’, which as well as encouraging you to do just that with its tranquilizing speed will sooth with its alluringly melancholic string arrangement and a chorus so simple but so spine-tingling that you’ll want it repeated to fade ad infinitum. A heart-warmingly good debut. - LOSINGTODAY


"LOSINGTODAY - Review: The Able Sea"

THE ABLE SEA
(Self Released)
BY RICHARD STOKOE

The Able Sea create music that recalls those heady, hazy days of the late sixties when Floyd and Soft Machine were thrilling the sweaty throng at the UFO club. After a prolonged session of whacked out grooving it’s easy to imagine a need to retreat to some form of chillout room and there’d be no better music to fill that space than this. With it’s gently spiralling organ and hushed-tone harmonies this is an album that whispers to you from another dimension; a dimension that doubles as a rest home for retired Psychedelic icons, where Syd Barrett has exited stage left to leave Nico and The Free Design to play dominoes by the fire, reassuring you that despite the fact that your head is beginning to thump like Sonny Liston and your conscience is slowly becoming gripped by a paranoia that insists you’ve left the oven on, none of it matters. Not really. All that matters is that you’re not alone.

The Able Sea, your friendly Texan shipmates on this technicoloured voyage, are there to hold your hand. You’re not sure where they are, or who they are, but you don’t care. It’s enough to know that they’re around somewhere, calming your heavy soul with their winsome ditties, tunes that could be lifted from a lost Oliver Postgate series. Few are more comforting than ‘Living on the Land’ for which the band set the controls for a scenic trip to the heart of the sun with a tinkling vibraphone echoing Tiny Clanger’s call to a wayward Froglet. Amid all the woozy rhythms and swirling melodies though are some genuinely strong songs, the best example of which is a form of baroque pop that sees Dead Can Dance kicking forward to the summer of ’68, ‘Head on Pillow’, which as well as encouraging you to do just that with its tranquilizing speed will sooth with its alluringly melancholic string arrangement and a chorus so simple but so spine-tingling that you’ll want it repeated to fade ad infinitum. A heart-warmingly good debut. - LOSINGTODAY


"30music.com - Review: The Able Sea"

The Able Sea
"The Able Sea" (CD)

released in 2009
Label: Scotsmen From Hull

... And what's this sound like then? If a description were required to be comprised of only an adjective and noun, and were also required to be abstract, vague, and minimally helpful, it would be Mystic Sandbox. The Able Sea sound like playing in a Mystic Sandbox. Spacey, fun, simple, weird, and chilled-out. After a few hours, though, you're ready to move onto Cosmic Tonka Trucks or a Metaphysical Jump-rope, or some shit like that.

-30-

Review written on 2009/06/26 by Vince Koci - 30music


"30music.com - Review: The Able Sea"

The Able Sea
"The Able Sea" (CD)

released in 2009
Label: Scotsmen From Hull

... And what's this sound like then? If a description were required to be comprised of only an adjective and noun, and were also required to be abstract, vague, and minimally helpful, it would be Mystic Sandbox. The Able Sea sound like playing in a Mystic Sandbox. Spacey, fun, simple, weird, and chilled-out. After a few hours, though, you're ready to move onto Cosmic Tonka Trucks or a Metaphysical Jump-rope, or some shit like that.

-30-

Review written on 2009/06/26 by Vince Koci - 30music


Discography

  • The Able Sea (2008)
  • The Able Sea II (2009)
  • yr4 pt5 (2012)
  • Living on the Land (2016*)

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Bio

The Able Sea have released three LPs to date, their most recent being yr4 pt5. Their self-titled debut (The Able Sea, 2008), and follow up (The Able Sea II, 2009) both garnered critical praise. Formed in 2005, they explore a sonic landscape that combines elements of folk, pop, rock, and psych. Their sensibilities run the gamut.

Band Members