I’m back, with another post about one of my favorite bands…again.  But I can’t help it.  Abney Park is back with a new CD, “Aether Shanties.”  Fans of Abney Park may be familiar with the trouble the band had trying to get this CD out there.  While they were recording it in their Seattle studio this past summer the northwest experienced some record setting high temperatures.  These 100 plus degree temps played holy havoc on the hard drives that housed their recording.  Suffice it to say that they lost most of what they had recorded and pretty much had to start from scratch.  But it was well worth the wait.

“Aether Shanties” is the steampunk themed music I was waiting for.  I thought they had done an incredible job with their previous CD, “Lost Horizons”, in capturing that past meets future meets steam meets high adventure kind of sound.  When the open track on the last CD is called Air Ship Pirates you know that you are in for a great ride.  Well, I’m here to tell you that they took that concept and built up the steam pressure to eleven.Building Steam, the second track on the CD, is an upbeat tune that really makes you want to move about, imagining you’re in the bowels of your airship.
The whole album is a nice combination modern sound with old school sea shanties and sensibilities. You will hear electronic beats mixed in with early phonograph scratchiness. It may sound like an odd combination, but it really works, especially for the genre that they are playing with.
My bottom line? If you like great sounding music that isn’t prepackaged crap, or you are a fellow steampunk like myself, then you really owe it to yourself to check “Aether Shanties” out. You won’t be disappointed.
Abney Park-Aether Shanties Follow the link to hear two songs at their website.
This has been, as always, suriehl

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