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ABRA: The Rise of the Darkwave Duchess
RnB/Hip Hop | Monday 18th January 2016 | Felix
The self-proclaimed ‘Darkwave Duchess’ is the first-lady of Atlanta’s weird-rap/RnB label, Awful Records - a tight-knit collective of college drop-outs and suburban misfits led by rapper/producer Father.
ABRA’s debut EP, ‘BLQ Velvet,’ was released in January 2015 and exhibited her diverse skills, as she wrote, produced and sang on every track. The project was dark in lyricism and tone, but ABRA’s gentle voice showed an insight into her world; “It’s like building a new world while consuming someone with sounds. I want to be able to take someone away from this place to somewhere trippy for a little bit of time.”
The last year saw ABRA’s rise as an artist, with soft-pallette visuals reflecting the pop sensibilities in her sound, underpinned by Awful Records’ appreciation of the avant garde. By June she had released a full-length album, ‘ROSE,’ with ‘80s drum-pads and synths set against the backdrop of modern RnB. Of the title, ABRA said; “A rose is something that blossoms and is super beautiful and then dies really fast, like all beautiful things. Everything dies. Everything has its seasons. Move the fuck on. There'll be more roses next year.” Needless to say, loss of innocence is a dominant theme.
In December ABRA dropped the visuals for ‘Fruit,’ one of the stand-out tracks from ‘ROSE,’ in which ABRA questions her lover’s unwillingness to fully commit. The song is one of her more accessible and the beautifully delicate accompanying visuals could propel ABRA to a wider stage.
The next year looks set to hold a lot for ABRA, with new fans eagerly awaiting a follow-up project. If you like what you hear, be sure to catch ABRA live when she visits London to play Corsica Studios on 8th March (presented by NTS.)
