Listen: Incan Abraham - "Arabian Cane"

Late last year Los Angeles pop rockers Incan Abraham released "In My Bones", the first new music non Los Angelinos could hear from the band since their debut full length album Tolerance was released back in the Spring of 2014. But triumphant "In My Bones" was hardly a one-off and several months later, the band released the rest of the collection they prepped during a writing retreat in NY's Hudson Valley where the trio grew up. Arabian Cane, the band's newest EP, finds the band reunited after singer/multi-instrumentalist/recording engineer Guiliano Pizullo's stint as a touring member of Passion Pit.

Known both for their bright, breezy melodies reminiscent of balmier climes than their native LA and the stratospheric reach of their songs most winsome moments both melodically and lyrically, Arabian Cane is a much subtler record even as they lean more into synth pop conventions. Much of the record populates a nebulous space of dreamy, soft spoken introspection even as the drums keep the band from luxuriating too much in listless ambience. Much of the band's career trajectory has been a patient plod as they really focused on the cultivation of sounds and experiences that make for good music and Arabian Cane is no different even as the band levels up both their production and their lineup: HAIM's Dash Hutton appears on drums and percussion for much of the record and Clinton Welander helms much of the production with Pizzulo as copilot.

Album opener, the titular "Arabian Cane", with it's psychedelic guitar riffs offers up a beguiling thesis statement both in its outright poppiness and in the way singer/guitarist Teddy Cafaro reflects on the sometimes closed off nature that results in the pursuit of a goal. "I keep my heart for the work I put out, I keep it cold and my dreams come alive" Cafaro offers in the lines opening verse in a way that doesn't entirely glamorize that sort of behavior. It's important to know oneself and on reflection, Cafaro rightfully calls himself out on less than savory moments: "I was a cocky kid but a reticent man". It's a song that both addresses the artist as a person without necessarily giving the artist a free pass for their personhood and acknowledges it from a point of obvious growth. It's a definite standout on the album, concerning itself with, much like "In My Bones" and "You Are Me" with introspection despite it's polished pop rock dressings. Featuring Andrew Lessman on drums before his departure, it marks an interesting intersection for the band - taking the band's strongest points: ear-catching intricate harmonies and layers and setting them at more insistent pace at odds with the sort of head-turning lyricism that makes you rewind and relisten. It's a delicate balance act and one that the band absolutely nails as they both lean into their psych rock influence and push their pop sensibility into overdrive.



Incan Abraham's Arabian Cane EP is out now. You can listen/download it now.

Listen: Incan Abraham - "In My Bones"

When last we heard from Los Angeles based pop rock outfit Incan Abraham they had finally put out their debut full length Tolerance after years of work and test driving the songs live. Tolerance's great success, apart from just being a strong collection of songs, was that it pivoted a bit away from the world music infused sounds of their Sunscreen and Ancient Vacation EPs toward a broader pop sound without shedding the elements that made the Incan Abraham such a worthwhile band to watch. 

"In My Bones", the first taste of new music since Tolerance was released a little more than two years ago, finds the band essentially continuing where they left off despite returning to the band's roots to write it and the other songs that'll make up their forthcoming album. Building on Guiliano Pizzulo's synths, "In My Bones" captures the anthemic feel and sentiment of Tolerance tracks like "Concorde" while nudging both their songcraft and lyricism forward. The song with its piecemeal development manages to achieve both a beautiful intimacy and the designs of its larger, more expansive sound. Where his guitar passes in and out of focus, Teddy Cafaro's vocals are resolute; giving the track much of its emotive power, a strength achieved more through its tender softness than pure blunt force and offered up as a rallying cry. 

Much like Tolerance relied on subtle musical moments to move it along, "In My Bones" is a subtler shift in both style and substance for Incan Abraham and one that certainly does pique my curiosity as to  how the rest of the band's new album will sound. Fortunately with Incan Abraham promising it next year it won't be too long before fans get the answer.

Incan Abraham - Tolerance (2014)

Sometimes a band's greatest strength is time. Some bands utilize this instinctually, some make a conscious effort to give themselves as much as necessary to let the ideas really gestate. It's not always a surefire option for crafting a masterpiece of an album but it's an excellent start and it certainly doesn't hurt. Los Angeles quartet Incan Abraham are one of those rare bands that seemed to realize early in their career that time would be their greatest ally. Maybe it's due to the fact that the core trio of Guiliano Pizzulo,Teddy Cafaro, and Spencer Mandel have known each other for virtually forever or at least since kindergarten which seems like forever ago when you're twentysomething but since putting their first ever EP out in the very beginning of 2011, the band hasn't been in any particular rush to record their debut full length, settling for small but strong releases.

Coming into their own on their Ancient Vacation EP, each subsequent release - namely their "Springhouse" 10" seemed to expand on the world pop infusion cemented in earnest on Ancient Vacation. So it was certainly unexpected when "Concorde" the first single from Incan Abraham's much anticipated full length debut Tolerance arrived anthemic and energetic as ever but a much more straightforward rock pop jam. While it didn't herald quite the shift in sound that it might've led one to expect, it did at least demonstrate that the foursome were equally comfortable with much more standard instrumentation - that what truly made the band unique wasn't their fondness for tropical percussion but their talented songcraft and musicianship. That's essentially what's on display on Tolerance. Incan Abraham are at peak performance - Pizzulo and Cafaro's vocals dexterous with a fullness that's impressive for the oft-high registers they inhabit while the band as a whole displays the type of interconnectedness earned from their five years of existence. The complex rhythms are still a prevalent force on Tolerance but used in a way that doesn't just echo the band's past releases. The album builds on the band's previously established strengths - namely their pristine vocal harmonies and knack of radiant melodies and tight-knit grooves by providing them a new context. 

I'll admit when I first listened to Tolerance, I didn't immediately jive with the album as a whole - a lingering adoration for the balanced intricacies of Ancient Vacation making the full length's subtler music moments not really register but Tolerance is an album that much like the band who made it - grows with time. Each subsequent listen reveals not only an additional layer of awe-inspiring but a new moment to fawn over - from the sparse majesty of "Desert Hold" to the a capella harmonies in  the finale of "Springhouse". Tolerance may have been a long time coming but it offers more than the occasional peek at Incan Abraham's potential. It's a solid album from a band more than capable of surpassing the benchmark. 

Listen to/buy Incan Abraham's full length debut Tolerance via White Iris Records.

Pitstop: Incan Abraham

                                                      (photo by Sterling Andrews)

If you visit this blog with any sort of consistency you may have picked up on what really gets me going, if not I'll review quickly: vocal harmonies, lush layers of sound, articulately played instruments, and anything vaguely world music inspired (also folk, but we're not talking about that right now).

Los Angeles' Incan Abraham were my first new music discovery at CMJ playing an absolutely riveting set upstairs at Pianos. It was a performance I wish I had been warned about so that I could've properly prepared myself for what was about to transpire. Instead before they went on, Jess from ex.fm introduced me to Spencer Mandel, the band's bassist, and merely mentioned they were friends and the band was "good". Lies and god damn slander, Jess.



The quartet showered all those lucky to be in attendance with tight-knit psychedelic pop rock filled to the brim with utterly mindblowing vocal harmonies and an unstoppable urge to move your body. Also afro-pop. And there isn't a human alive who can resist the sultry sway of African-inspired beats. Anyone who says so is a liar. How did they do this? Well, drummer Andrew Clinco has a set of congas in addition to the standard set up, and  lead vocalist/keyboardist Guliano Pizzulo has a laptop that infuses world-inspired elements into what would otherwise be a pretty basic guitar-bass-drums-keys-sometimes-other-guitar line up.



On paper, Incan Abraham might not immediately sound like a band you should be going crazy over but I assure you they most certainly are. Three years of music-making has turned the foursome into an efficient groove machine capable of raining down it's radiant, bliss-inducing harmony-laden brand of dance-inspiring pop rock. But as impressive as the band's playing is, the real star is no doubt the voice-work. Pizzulo's vocals are effortlessly pristine, attention-grabbing, and have this ability to float above the wide variety of business happening underneath. While guitarist Teddy Cafaro's are a well-deployed weapon: sweeter and less insistent but no less ear-catching or arresting. On the occasion where he takes lead vocal duties ("In Milan"), it's a treat and a quite enjoyable one at that. Together Pizzulo and Cafaro form a rather formidable duo. And because I still can't get over them, I'll mention them again: Those harmonies.



Incan Abraham currently have three EPs available for free download over at their Bandcamp so make sure you pick those up. They're all great. They also have delightfully good single out now. Listen to "Springhouse":