”Three years into its existence, Abracastabya has unleashed Knees Together Ankles Crossed, an open wound of an album that smolders, swells, and suppurates dark anxiety and desire.”
The Onion AV Club, Localized: Denver
“The act's distinctively eclectic style nods to Helium, with layers of textured electronic and acoustic sounds, and stark yet emotionally rich lyrics delivered by Welter, whose vocals are tinged with the same type of defiant vulnerability Tori Amos displayed on Little Earthquakes.”
Tom Murphy, The Westword
Abracastabya is an independent band based in Colorado Springs, Colo. Its genre-straddling music builds haunting piano and organ melodies on a template of cello, dreamy guitars and rock beats.
The band’s first full-length album, the self-released Knees Together Ankles Crossed, provides a mix of waltz beats, carnivalesque dirges, indie rock and a few stripped-down acoustic pieces. Audiences and critics have described Abracastabya (abra-kuh-STAB-yuh) as "creepy carnival music," “art fag,” "experimental indie rock" and "shoegaze." The four BFFs experiment and create a balance of sound, invention and poetry, while trying not to take themselves too seriously.
Geoff Brent's spacey guitar sways from mellow to intense, while David Grimm's drums provide a powerful foundation. “The alchemy between Lauren Langley’s strings and Willow Welter’s voice and keyboards is as unique as it is achingly breathtaking,” writes Jason Heller of the Onion AV Club, Denver. The keyboard- or guitar-driven songs build to climaxes with ambivalent resolutions.
After three years together playing live (at places ranging from dive bars to art galleries), with acts including Rasputina, Edith Frost, Black Moth Super Rainbow and Appleseed Cast, Abracastabya hit the studio with Bill Douglass, who has recorded and produced work by Bauhaus, The Flaming Lips and Smashing Pumpkins.
Their full-length album, "Knees Together Ankles Crossed" is available on iTunes, at CD Baby, Click here, Independent Records, or any of their shows. Some songs are available for download above.
Check out our interview with critic/writer Tom Murphy in Denver's Westword:
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From Denver's Westword, Sept. 13, 2007, by music writer Tom Murphy:
Those old enough to remember Pee-wee's Big Adventure surely recall being haunted by Danny Elfman's spooky soundtrack, the demented carnival music heard throughout the movie. A similar eccentric and darkly compelling sensibility informs the moods and sounds of Abracastabya (due at the Black Sheep in Colorado Springs on Friday, September 14, with Eyes Caught Fire, the Life There Is and Black Moth Super Rainbow). At times the act's music waltzes with palpable menace before flaring up with near-hysterical intensity, like a scene out of a classic Dario Argento film. Live, Willow Welter's melodic, lilting vocals are given a certain edge by her penetrating gaze, while innovative and eclectic rhythms set the pace for the guitars and cello, all of which come together to weave a canopy of sublimely gritty and otherworldly material.
From Westword's "Movers and Shakers 2008: Backbeat scribes weigh in on their favorite local releases of the year": Abracastabya, Knees Together Ankles Crossed (Self-released). The poetic nonsense titles give just a hint of the thoughtfulness and sweeping emotionalism contained within each song. Impressively diverse yet sonically cohesive, this record owes a bit to Little Earthquakes while also showcasing the band's creative ambition. Fragile and intense, wise and brash, Abstab waste not a moment of your time.
