True to their bizarre shape Abunai impersonates a kaleidoscope of imagined psych/folk/rock bands from a New England scene that never was -- with extended liner notes (from bassist Dan's dad) "to not shew it"...

11 MP3 Songs
Rock Psychedelic, Rock Folk Rock

The Occult River Sound Songs


Details:
Excerpts of some reviews of 'The Occult River Sound':

"...the results are as moving as they are ingenious...
hearty soups of Spacemen 3 fuzz and electric-raga kitsch... The copyright date says 1999; you'll swear it's midnight at the Boston Tea Party in sweet '67."
- David Fricke, Rolling Stone

"On their second full-length album, Abunai! do the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Clubs Band one better. Or, rather, 11 better." - Stanton Swihart, AMG All Music Guide

"Occult River" is an electrifying album of swirling sights and sounds that benefits from the group's imaginative yet disciplined arrangements. In lesser hands, the trippy "Vanishing Point" might amount to little more than nostalgic yearning, but Abunai! avoids the pitfall of confusing excess with inspiration." - Jonathan Perry, Boston Globe

"the members of Abunai! reject the prog-rock tag -- then again, rejecting tags was what the best prog-rock was all about. And so is the thrill of exploration that's all over this album. Many of the songs were built around improvs, and it's impressive enough to hear a band whose jams go somewhere -- especially one whose jam ethos predates Phish and largely bypasses the Dead."
- Brett Milano, Boston Phoenix


[from the Camera Obscura label's website]
"Conceived as a shape-shifting, battle-of-the-bands mock-compilation, with all parts played by our intrepid Bostonian foursome, Abunai's second long-player Occult River Sound extends the Krautrock-meets-noise-folk-meets- space-pop mix of their debut even further, in the process forming a veritable encyclopaedia of guitar bliss directions and neo-psychedelic intrigue.

"Tomorrow" kicks the album off with a folk-inflected bass line leading into a pop song that looks wistfully back at the paisley underground as well skywards at a kaleidoscope of stars. The lads scratch the Fairport Convention itch with pulverizing versions of "Barbara Allen" and "Sweet William", which traverse the landscape of traditional balladry like mythical behemoths, kicking over thatched huts and standing stones on their way to share several kegs of ale with the Goddess. "Learning To Ask" recalls the best of late 80s UK dream pop, and wouldn"t be out of place as a classic Creation label 7". "To Think That You Knew" and "Vanishing Point" have their genesis in lysergic improvisation, and most closely recall the freewheeling jams of the first record, as does the 7 minute "hidden" MP3 format data track "Lockjam". The biggest surprises come with the sci-fi rock of "Mechanical Kingdom" and the proto-metal "Rock Song", which invokes a garage chord sequence not dissimilar to that of Black Sabbath's "Paranoid" to form a framework for some of Brendan Quinn most emphatic riffing. After the record concludes with the anthemic signing-off song "Toast", most folks are going to be in little doubt that they have really been somewhere Occult."