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Leo Abrahams


Honeytrap,
Honeytrap 7 ( 2005 )
Kristiansand / Playground / Slippery Jack / Rise / Siren / Honeytrap / The Distance / Footprints / Control / In Doubt / Spider / Tonight / Mirror Sister / Seeing Stars

A session player who has worked with several essteemed names. Brian Eno, Ed Hardcourt and David Holmes have all benefitted from the atmospheric touch of Leo Abrahams. You know who i'd like to see him work with? They are probably two diametrically opposed people, but that's why it appeals to me. I'd like to see him work with Lawrence from Felt. Anybody remember Maurice Deebank, the first Felt guitarist? He created all these beautiful, classically inspired and clean guitar lines. Leo Abrahams does a similar thing, although more accomplished than Deebank, suffice to say. So, what does 'Honeytrap' actually provide us with? Well, fourteen beautiful instrumentals, and unlike other such records, which tend to be a bit too ambient and background, the tone of Abrahams guitar playing keeps you coming back again. Well, at fifty five minutes, perhaps a couple of tunes similar to other tunes could have been left off, but only perhaps. Let's take the closing tune, 'Seeing Stars'. It conjures up images and pictures and also emotions. It's not just pretty for the sake of it, in fact, pretty isn't exactly the correct word. The playing above the keyboard lines and the string sounds create a tone of both love and death, beauty and sadness, and the possibilities of searching for something out of your own grasp. Track seven 'The Distance' does a similar thing, with some deep piano sounds. Indeed, it sounds like you floating off in a dream. At times, this album is indeed very evocative and beautiful.

'Siren', as its title may suggest, demanded a noisier, funkier sound. Leo provides with an almost grinding assault on the ears that doesn't need vocals to make it work. Silly thing to say really, although. Instrumental tracks often do struggle to maintain a listeners interest across a whole albums length, unless you're Mike Oldfield or something, but then, I'm only fairly partial to Mike Oldfield, you know what I mean? Ultimately, and without going through every track here, it's very clear that Mr Abrahams is very talented and deserves an audience for his work.

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this page last updated 17/07/05