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We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

"I'm in the abyss​!​"

by Abandon Reason

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about

Now available for purchase - each of the 100 A3 prints comes with immediate download of the compilation + separate A4 tracklist which is stamped with a handmade linocut Abandon Reason logo.

The compilation serves as an introduction of sorts to the label and its ethos, but also as a taster/portent of things to come. It features brand new music from Yawning Chasm and Brigid Power Ryce; a re-working of an as-yet unreleased Raising Holy Sparks song; a live rendition of an in-progress piece by Áine O'Dwyer, an improvised collaboration between Gavin Prior and Declan Kelly and a droned-out version of a Burrows song, and more besides.

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More about Abandon Reason:

Abandon Reason is a new label based in Galway, Ireland. It began life as a radio programme/archive of recordings made in the cavernous, echo-drenched surroundings of a disused underground car park. These recordings (made by a varied group of musicians/sound artists/noisemakers) ranged from beautiful a capella renditions of traditional Irish song (Brigid Power Ryce) to primal hanging sheet metal hammering (Gavin Prior); from delicate harp-based folk (Áine O'Dwyer) to mesmerising devotional drone and group chanting (Raising Holy Sparks).

Other artists who have visited and recorded in the space include Aaron Coyne (Yawning Chasm); Kate Glavey (Burrows); Vicky Langan (Wölflinge, Black Sun Cork); Jorge Boehringer (Core of the Coalman); Gerard Duffy (School Tour); Tony Higgins (junior85); Sarah Grimes (September Girls).

If you want to delve further into these recordings all eight episodes of the programme can be streamed on www.curiousbroadcast.com.

With the evolution of Abandon Reason into a label the aim is to cast light on the kind of experimental music that has been produced in the space, though the label's output will not necessarily be limited to these recordings. Future releases planned include new work by Raising Holy Sparks, Brigid Power Ryce, Burrows, Yawning Chasm and more.

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I'd like to thank everyone involved, the artists and musicians, who gave their considerable talent and precious time to this project, and those who have supported it from before the beginning; particular thanks to Brigid, Dave, Caimo and Aaron for going the extra fathom.

Thank you if you've listened, and thank you for reading this far. If you'd like to be kept up to date with future Abandon Reason releases/goings on send an email to reasonabandon{at}gmail{dot}com with "Four weeks" as the subject to receive a (very infrequent and inobtrusive) e-newsletter.

- Declan Kelly, January 2013

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More from the artists featured:

www.brigidpowerryce.com
yawningchasm.bandcamp.com
agitatedradiopilot.bandcamp.com
www.desertedvillage.com
www.geocities.jp/darugaries
www.soundcloud.com/aine-o-dwyer
burrowsinwinter.bandcamp.com
schooltour.bandcamp.com
www.tonyhiggins.org
septembergirls.bandcamp.com

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credits

released January 27, 2013

ABRE-000

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It's worth clicking on the "info" link beside each track. Just sayin.

Music by:

David Colohan, Aaron Coyne, Darugaries (Koichiro Miyaoka, Takashi Kumagai, Keigo Matsunaga, Keiko, Tomoyuki Mihara, Tadahiro Ishihara); Gerard Duffy, Kate Glavey, Gorges, Sarah Grimes, Tony Higgins, Kaiser Caimo, Declan Kelly, Áine O'Dwyer, Brigid Power Ryce, and Gavin Prior.

All recordings were made with (up to 3, but usually 2) Zoom H1s. A Tascam was also used to record Brigid Power Ryce's"Tiny You and Me", and on any recordings featuring David Colohan an Edirol RO9 was also used.

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Artwork by:

Aaron Coyne, Kaiser Caimo, Declan Kelly, and Brigid Power Ryce.

The prints were produced by iSupply on Druid Lane, Galway (as were the tracklists). The cellophane bags, lino and ink were purchased from Cregal Art - Monivea Rd, Galway, and Powell's - Shop St, Galway.

The album cover photo is by Declan Kelly, the poetry and artwork on walls is the work of Kaiser Caimo.

All other photography by Declan Kelly using a Nikon D40
except:

the photo of Darugaries was taken using a Nikon FM2 and Fuji Neopan 1600 ISO black and white film;

the photo for "Reams" was taken by Sarah Grimes using some class of a Canon D-SLR;

the image for "In Winter (Harmonium version)" is a still taken from Kate Glavey's videocamera footage;

the image for "⇊Underlude⇊ - Water table" is a photo taken by Kaiser Caimo with some class of a Sony digital camera.

Oh and mostly it was raining.

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Some nice things written about "I'm in the abyss!"

"After careful planning, all the sessions are together in a single set, this Abandon Reason compilation I’m In The Abyss. Four levels deep with intent, it takes a particular application for something like this to work, to draw the shared interest of the many people involved. It gives the impression that this dead space evoked something in each of the musicians, the same thing captured Declan’s attention with such endurance. And for me, it works as an artistic construct with all those levels of intention, to be music that succeeds as a collaboration of like minds, without frippery, in a space that has spirit.
Akin to a spiralling ear mould plug pulled from the walls of the car park, instead of goo, the players have injected sound to bounce off every cranny, mapping the underground topography and what takes shape is this final model, finely-detailed album. Music was played on a multitude of instruments, on banjo, harmonium, violin, ukele, harp and keyboards, found in clattering security barriers and puddles, built from the low thunder of a bowling ball. Water Table by Declan and Aaron Coyne as ⇊Underlude⇊ is the one that really calls to me. I’ll leave you with the track and description but have a listen to the whole album. It’s an unnerving listen at times but there’s so much information tucked away in its bays that it opens up quite easily for contemplation."
- Nay McArdle, Harmless Noise (www.harmlessnoise.ie)

"This is one of the more intriguing releases I’ve been sent in recent months. It’s a compilation album from a new record label that’s based in Galway called Abandon Reason, which “began as a radio programme that showcased recordings made in a disused underground car park in Galway made by various musicians and sound artists. It has since evolved into an independent label dealing in sound and visual art inspired by those underground experiments.” OK sirs, you have my attention. The compilation, entitled I’m in the Abyss, clocks in at a healthy 16 songs, ranging in length from 60 seconds to 11 minutes. In the opening track, which sets the stage/carpark for what’s to come, you hear a phone go off followed by laughter. Later on you hear sellotape being pulled. This isn’t a Mumford & Sons album. It’s experimental in every sense of the word. And I haven’t even mentioned the artwork yet. Declan Kelly, the person behind Abandon Reason, said: “It’s sold in a slightly less straightforward manner (though it’s by no means unique) – you buy a really nicely printed A3 piece of artwork with a download code attached. The pieces come in an edition of 100 with artwork by Brigid Power Ryce (a new ink drawing), Kaiser Caimo (an oil painting of the space itself and a photograph of work she’s been doing on the walls there), a medium format photograph of the space by Aaron Coyne of Yawning Chasm and a digital image of my own. The compilation is €5 on launch day, €7 in the Wingnuts thereafter and €7 from the Bandcamp (+p&p). For those that buy the print it also comes with a bonus track; a new recording of a very old Yawning Chasm song.” It took me a few reads to wrap my head around that information. The download code comes on a piece of art – amazing."
- Eoghan O'Sullivan, The Point of Everything (www.thepointofeverything.com)

"I’m in the Abyss!" is a truly special recording, recorded over the course of a few performances, four storeys underground in an abandoned car park in Galway, Ireland. Semi-improvised (watch out for warts-n-all shit like a phone going off during the first track, followed by howls of laughter), it’s just beautiful. Not what normally gets posted here, but fuck it."
- www.blacknois.es

"Born in an underground car park with the Atlantic ocean's waves breaking against the edge of a continent scant metres away, Abandon Reason Records' first release is a compilation of tracks performed and recorded deep under the earth's surface. There's a small, tight-knit group of sonic adventurers involved and many of them double (or triple) job over the course of nearly two hours. The release itself comes as a download attached to one of 100 unique A3 prints. Something for your wall. As far as opening statements go, it's a deeply ambitious one from the Galway-based label.

The atmosphere feels intimate yet strange, the dank acoustic of the subterranean concrete chamber often at odds with the personal, emotional performances. There is a tension and a darkness that never quite disappears, whether Brigid Power Ryce's voice is creaking and flexing over mournful accordion or Gavin Prior is banging sheets of metal off each other. There is a sacred, hushed nature to everything, a feeling that the shadow is pushing in from the outside and each song is an opportunity to light up the room for a few minutes.

The constant thread is not genre or instrument, but mood. Relatively “normal” songs, based on traditional folk instruments and warped melodies, sit easily side-by-side with extended ambient tonal pieces, tied together in their twilight despondency. There are highlights, Áine O'Dwyer's 'Albion Awake' combines classically-styled, fleet-footed vocals with dark, droning harp-work to magical effect. Darugaries' 'Boku No Kioku' is beautifully sparse, the string and horn arrangements complementing the simple rhythm of the guitar. The distant vocals are heart-warming in their plainness, with a distinctly Japanese sense of sincerity and minimalism in their tone. The sound of wind blowing outside comes through near the end and glass tinkles in the background. Again the tension of classic beauty and surreal strangeness pays off in a wonderful way.

The release is a strange, ungainly one, as it should be. It could be shorter, it could sound better, it could have been sequenced differently. None of this feels important though. The palpable sense of hearing something coalescing from the ether, a set of musicians discovering and sharing a distinct sensibility, is exciting. Many of the musicians have been around for a while now, playing in each others bands and supporting each other. If it continues in this vein, Abandon Reason could come to provide a deeply useful centre-point for this disparate group, and its potential audience. As it is, I'm In The Abyss is a great entry point."
-Ian Maleney, (www.thumped.com)

Abandon Reason is an independent label based in Galway. The illuminating sounds on a new compilation, entitled ‘I’m In The Abyss!’ showcases the greatness this label has to offer. A light is cast upon a diverse array of awe-inspiring Irish talent. I am lost for words in beginning to describe my feelings for several of these amazing musicians. Yawning Chasm (AKA Aaron Coyne) is one of my favourite singer-songwriters making music today. Áine O’ Dwyer is a rare and magical force that will leave you dumbfounded; her harp-based folk compositions are steeped in beauty. Raising Holy Sparks (AKA David Colohan) inhabits a distant cosmic space, setting the atmosphere alight. Brigid Power Ryce beautifully re-interprets Irish traditional song. This is merely a fraction of the multitude of talent operating in Abandon Reason. Their songs originate from a real space and time, the abyss-where art is composed and performed.
- Mark Carry, (www.fracturedair.com)

I've been to the abyss. Not in a metaphorical or existential sense; rather, in the tongue-in-cheek sense that's intended by the title of this compilation, which gathers together live and frequently-improvised performances from the titular void. The 'abyss' is a dank, abandoned underground car park in Galway, Ireland: four storeys deep, a stone's throw from the Atlantic Ocean and seemingly infinite in natural reverb and ambience. On the night in question, a word-of-mouth gig has been arranged there, featuring Aine O'Dwyer (harpist for experimental collective United Bible Studies) and Gorges, an improvisational trio.

Finding your way to the lower depths of the structure is something of a challenge for the uninitiated, and not a task for the claustrophobic. By the time you reach the second floor down, sheer darkness prevails - save, that is, for the rows of candles lined along the kerb that (as well as pointing you in the right direction) lend a surreal, faintly ritualistic air to the space, the first sign that these mundane, decaying surroundings are playing host to something out of the ordinary. Your sense of hearing takes over, but is also confused, as the strange strains of music that can now be heard seem to emanate from any number of directions. Finally you reach the source, but not before spoiling the moment by marching straight into a massive puddle of accumulated seawater.

Soaking feet aside however, to hear music performed in this environment is to experience unique nuances and hidden resonances; disquieting tones interacting and mutating in the structure's vast open spaces, as well as a vibe that's perfectly positioned between reverence and casual inclusiveness (the closing 'outerlude' of the compilation, 'Nefar-ee-us', documents performers and audience alike taking turns on a Moroccan sheep herder's horn).

The loose collective of like-minded musicians showcased on I'm In The Abyss! have been experimenting, recording and putting on under-the-radar gigs in the car park for the last couple of years. Abandon Reason was originally the name given to a radio broadcast/archive of these live recordings (still accessible and highly recommended), but the project has now been expanded in the form of a record label, and this is its debut release.

Musically, the compilation covers some diverse ground: from folk-ish numbers to ominous drones and violent clatter, or from shape-note singing to throat singing; not to mention pieces that are predominantly found sound or field recordings. What threads all these different strands together with surprising coherence is the unique acoustic character of the space that inspired them. By extension, it's the key to understanding why a group of musicians somewhat far-flung stylistically - and often geographically - have gravitated towards each other.

The first sounds you hear on the compilation are dripping water and the loud clatter of a security barrier, before the out-of-place ringing of a mobile phone provokes spontaneous laughter. It's a prelude of sorts, leading into the lo-fi folk of Yawning Chasm's 'Peripheral Eyes': a breezy and light-footed place to start, and a vibe that's more or less maintained for the tracks that immediately follow it. Brigid Power-Ryce is a musician with an impressive vocal range, her elongated singing style lending itself to a cappella renditions of Irish traditional folk songs; her contribution here - 'Tiny You And Me' - is an original, but vocally it comes from a similar place, all poise and simmering emotion, the wavering melody perfectly complimented by the ebb and flow of her accordion.

Things get more impressionistic as you go on. On Burrows' track 'In Winter', an eerie ambience is created by the interaction of gentle harmonium drone, wordless (and strangely soothing) vocal incantations, and the sound of cellotape-on-wall serving as man-made static. As it subtly and gradually expands, louder too grows the sound of seeping seawater. Elsewhere, on 'Albion Awake' the aforementioned Aine O'Dwyer's harp playing provides a rippling rhythmic accompaniment to her acrobatic-but-austere vocals, while also providing ornate, intricate flourishes of its own.

Anyone who's ever experienced the peculiarly ceremonial atmosphere of a busy cattle mart - all booming reverb, bovine ruckus and human chanting so lightning-fast that it takes on an enraptured speaking-in-tongues quality - will notice similar elements here at times, notably on Gavin Prior's 'Mjorn' or Gorges' 'Train, Clatter'. The latter track's unhinged rattle is counterbalanced by a recurring banjo figure that's lent a fluid quality by the odd acoustics. On 'Poles, violin, vuvuzela, the sea', an excerpt from a Noel Coward song is accompanied by the sound of structural poles 'played' with a multi-purpose torch (according to the delightfully extensive Bandcamp liner notes). Raising Holy Sparks' 'Set The Landscape Singing' is prefaced by excerpts of 'Sacred Harp 159 (Wondrous Love)'. Here and there, discordant snatches of sound recall atonal horror soundtracks.

Perhaps the most evocative track on the compilation is 'Underlude: Water table', on which a recording of an encounter with a pair of clampers is interspersed with the very first recording made in the car park, a meditative piece played on baritone ukulele and ebow. The throbbing sound that underpins the latter half of the track is explained in the liner notes as vibrations from a machine that pumps the standing water back out of the building: "The machine is obviously fighting a losing battle...so the water builds up, and as it does it changes the acoustics". The overall effect is a poignant depiction of decay and impermanence.

'Boku no Kioku', the bewitching, brass-infused closing track on the compilation ('Outerlude' aside), brings things full circle. It's a song by Japan-based act Darugaries, one of whom - Takashi Kumagai - did much to inspire the main movers behind this compilation when he used his time in Galway to put on 'Fairy Fort' gigs with a similarly experimental spirit. Mixing campfire strumming and bottle percussion with uplifting flourishes and Koichiro Miyaoka's soulful vocals, it manages to sound both shambling and spiritual at the same time. What really lends the recording its peculiar magic, however, is the way - and apologies for paraphrasing the liner notes once again - "trombone, clarinet and trumpets weave and dodge around the pillars and each other in perfect unison".

From the sequencing to the expository notes (sound sources and all) to the striking A3 prints that accompany it, everything about I'm In The Abyss! points to a labour of love. Further releases - musical and otherwise - are lined up for Abandon Reason, but for now this is an adventurous and absorbing debut, serving as both introduction and summation. At the very least, it's one of the more unique compilations you'll hear this year.
- Daniel Harrison (thequietus.com)
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Abandon Reason Galway, Ireland

An independent label based in Galway, Ireland born four floors underground and drenched in reverb, emerging into the sun/moon/sodium light.

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