Àbáse announces new album ‘Nefelejcs’

Yesterday, electronic producer Àbáse announced his new album ‘Nefelejcs’ and described it as a “full-circle moment”. Hungarian for the forget-me-not flower, it was Àbáse’s late mother’s favourite. Whilst Àbáse has spent the last seven years in Berlin, the loss of his mother and a search for identity compelled him to explore his roots with this new album.

Across 18 tracks, Àbáse blends samples of Eastern European folk, avant-garde sounds, contemporary classical, and ethno-jazz, all wrapped up in a club-forward production. As if by accident, all these ideas and influences have created a soundtrack for personal rediscovery and a way to hear examples of cultural liberation in Hungary. There are a lot of guest vocalists and musicians, especially from the jazz community, on the record. I’m expecting a bombastic, shapeshifting story to dance and transform to.

Àbáse describes the latest single ‘Fekete Szem / Black Eye’ as Hungarian folk meets jazz, trap beats, and avant-garde. There appears to be a music video in the works, as small snippets have been shown, but as of release, there is only a visualiser. I absolutely love this track. It starts off as a slight modernisation of a traditional folk piece, sung by Kacsó Hanga. Jenő Lisztes also guest-performs, playing the delightful cimbalom. The cimbalom is one of my favourite instruments, and is a Hungarian hammered dulcimer (long-term readers know a hammered dulcimer is second only to the piano in my ears). Then, taking a leaf from modern jazz trios, Àbáse brings in the saxophone, electric bass, and intricate break beats to blast the song into another dimension. The percussive elements of the beats and the cimbalom play beautifully off of each other, creating a whirlpool of sound that you could cartwheel through in style. It’s superb.

So, yes, I’ll be buying this album on release day, thank you very much. For anyone else, you can pre-order ‘Nefelejcs’ on Bandcamp. The album releases on 2nd November, whilst the single is out now. Fingers crossed the music video arrives soon.

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