Carolina Faruolo (ex-Los Bitchos) and Danny Lee Blackwell (Night Beats) had been friends and mutual admirers of each other’s musical projects for years, though with Faruolo residing in the UK and Blackwell residing in Texas, their interactions were limited. When so much of life moved online in 2020, they decided to start a project together under the name Abraxas, combining a number of musical loves including Doo-Wop and R&B.
Now they’ve shared their first single and video from their upcoming album Monte Carlo, “Sunrise State (of Mind)” via Suicide Squeeze Records. The album will arrive in digital, CD, and vinyl formats on October 28th, 2021.
They explain:
(Horacio) Bolz and (Edward) Heredia were able to create a video concept that originally incorporated elements of our album artwork and sound. The feeling of weightless-ness and interplanetary discovery permeates through the video beautifully.
Regarding the sound for their new project and album, Blackwell says:
Planet Abraxas is a world filled with jungles, mist-covered rivers, panthers lurking in the night, desolate shopping malls, Neolithic citadels and sand-worn walls. The nights are usually dense with fog and the air is filled with the sounds of cicadas and faraway drumming.
Blackwell recorded his contributions with the assistance of engineer Chris Maciel at his studio the 22nd Dimension in Pomona, California and Faruolo recorded her parts in Manchester, England at Brunswick Mill. Abraxas plans to make the live incarnation of the band a reality when conditions allow for it.
