Summer In AbaddonPinbackTouch And Go Records

Four and a half out of five stars

Even before the album starts spinning, the juxtaposed theme of Pinback’s latest release, Summer In Abaddon, is already making noises.

Sure, Abaddon sounds like a nice place to spend all that summer vacation time, but as translated, Abaddon is actually a Hebrew word referring to a place of eternal damnation.

A juxtaposition, indeed, considering that Summer In Abaddon is a talent-filled, well-thought, exceptional record that serves as a great vacation from mainstream mediocrity. The unmistakably percussive style of Pinback’s instrumentation is still fully intact on Abaddon. Pinback’s founding members, Rob Crow and Armistead Burwell Smith IV, have traditionally been the sole musicians in the recording of previous efforts, as they used loops and samples to simulate sounds of more than just themselves. This time, however, three humans have joined them.

Unchanged are the recording studios: Crow’s bedroom and a back room in Smith’s house. This private and primitive style of production authenticates the emotion conveyed with the private and deeply personal themes of the album. Talk about lo-fi.

Pinback’s ephemeral lyrics combined with flowing instrumentation has created a lucid and dreamlike sound new to Pinback’s two-man scheme.

Their new, more ambient sound is capable of nearly covering the complete spectrum of emotions, ranging from depressed and heartbroken to uninhibited and enlightened. The intended meaning of each song is vague and suggested, rather than imposed/hit on the head of listeners-something that is also somewhat foreign to Pinback. Having opened its sounds to not just new noises so much as new depths for what used to be lyrical stiffling, Summer In Abaddon gave a formerly thin-skinned band some meat.

Sure, it could be pretentious. But at least they’re trying. More than that-it’s working.

Selfless or self-indulgent, Summer In Abaddon is (reguardless) a semi-independent, artistically triumphant and, (more likely than not) a commercially ineffective record.

It’s this final paradox that truly might make Summer In Abaddon one the best albums of the year to own-not that many people are going to have it, let alone hear about it.

Indulge in your new secret before it gets too late.

Drew Tabke