“An Imaginal Abydos” is Primordial Undermind’s eleventh album of all-new music, and the first new studio recordings since 2011. Through the band’s three decades of existence, Undermind frontal lobe Eric Arn has led the group through multiple incarnations – initially in the US, since 2005 in Vienna, Austria – that ranged along a musical spectrum from post-garage-psych stomp via spiky art punk and into avant-garde space, always maintaining an immediately recognizable aesthetic through-line. Of all the band’s incarnations, Vienna is the longest-lasting yet least-recorded, so just on that basis “An Imaginal Abydos” is a treat for longtime listeners, a studio snapshot of the current quartet (guitars, bass, drums) in hard-charging action in late 2019 and early 2020 (last days of the Before Times). Those good listeners will appreciate even more how the album’s musical contents channel sounds from all across PU’s past sonic scope – from structured songs to freeform improvisations, drone into dissonance, noise overload to hovering sparseness, a proper lysergic ruckus that snarls and spits when needed but is also quiet and understated in good measure. All of which makes it perhaps the most Undermind-ian PU LP yet, manna for old fans and a fine entry point for new ones; there’s plenty of guitar freakout, and it sounds mighty good with the volume on your hi-fi cranked way up. Seven songs, 39 minutes.
released July 15, 2022
Christoph Johannes Weikinger guitar, vocals
Xavier Scholz drums
Antonio Rosa de Pauli bass, xylophone
Eric Arn guitar, vocals
Recorded at Primitive Studios, Vienna by Daniel Schatz, 2019-2020
Mastered by Eric Carbonara at Nada Sound Studio
Sleeve art by Christoph
Released by Deep Water Acres & Sunrise Ocean Bender
We're working on getting some across the great waters, but those in Continental Europe can try
primordialundermind.bandcamp.com
“ … builds from gently shimmering guitars to a heavy lurch, like some giant rising from an extended slumber. But then bandleader Eric Arn opens his mouth, fulminating contradictions like Mike Watt barking his way through a thesaurus. This isn’t a sonic metaphor; this is an existential crisis. As the words tumble out, Arn sounds like he’s been waiting far too long to tell you what’s on his mind. Eventually, language gives way to a tension-shattering guitar eruption … ” — Bill Meyer, Magnet Magazine
“ … woops and lumbers around like a cosmonaut in a tin-can spaceship, struck by asteroids, and trying to get purchase on a helpful-looking lever. … The set lasts just 40 minutes but they pack so much in that there’s enough here to keep the repeat spins rewarding, even if they take another ten years or so to follow it up.” — JR Moores, The Quietus
“ … the band launches into stretches of rumbling post-rock that quake with bass drum barrel rolls and clanging guitars. At other points, like “Until They Break,” the group leans further into their lysergic punk side, and charge with a full fuzz-distortion assault.
Every facet of PU’s diverse sound you experience on this record is a total gobsmacker, demonstrating that Arn’s group ages just as well as any fine wine.” — Record Crates United
“ … Meandering guitar improvisations/jams, driving drums, and despite all the experimental approaches and excursions, always clearly recognizable songwriting that doesn’t lose sight of the song during the occasional freakout – you’ll find it all in Primordial Undermind. … without fear of distorted tradition, electrified customs, and basement-smelling folklore. It’s only rock’n’roll, and I’m not the only one who likes it. Eric Arn, the only constant member of Primordial Undermind, has been around long enough to dispel suspicions of an unoriginal existence anyway. He was a member of the Crystalized Movements in the late 1980s, releasing on Twisted Village, and thus Arn is old enough to have had experience in the US underground “before punk broke” … the musical DNA of “An Imaginal Abydos” is clearly influenced by the (sub)urban guitar sound of America in the late 1980s and early 1990s, by small clubs and basements … The album navigates confidently through the expanding universe of noise, psychedelic and experimental rock, moves confidently stylistically between loud and quiet passages, and serves the appropriate musical nomenclature. Everything sits, fits, wobbles and has air … ” — Holger Adam, Skug
“ … The tension builds up and up and explodes in a crescendo of bursting energy, coming down and down, dissolving, and turning into the next song.
‘Things only bend until they break…’
It’s this cycle that repeats seven times on An Imaginal Abydos, each resulting in seven completely different outcomes. Yet each filled with a certain similar tension, darkness, and urgency. Lyrics come and go, turning up only when they are summoned by the heavily fuzzed up guitars. Drums and bass fill in the blanks with a strong jazz feel, yet this is not that. It’s not jazz, and it is not experimental, it is four humans, listening closely to each other, and following the creative stream, from here to everywhere … ” — Weirdo Shrine
