It’s amazing what a year of constant writing can do for the creative life of a musician. Take for instance Columbus band Abel who have released 3 singles and remix EP since their 2021’s LP Happy Belated (read our full review HERE). On their two latest singles, they have both matured and evolved, sidelining their hyperpop tendencies and leaning more heavily into slow-core and shoe-gaze while staying rooted in the concept of “emo” as emotional music. Both tracks contain the openness that is a signature of Abel’s music, even as they sound distinctly different from each other.

“Erase Your Memory”

It doesn’t come much more vulnerable than starting a song by confessing “I will let you down again” and closing with “I’ll always be insane.” These are the kind of inside thoughts that we keep close to the vest, lest we scare away our friends and family. And there is a sense of bravery partnered with trepidation in the way lead singer Isaac Kauffman builds up to the bold crescendo at the end of the song, admitting something so personal yet relatable. The guitar and drum combination create a lilting waltz time signature while the song builds layers of synth, flanged acoustic guitar, and noodling solos repeating the theme underneath the vocal melody.

From an interview with vocalist/guitarist/band leader Isaac Kauffman:

“”Erase Your Memory” was a riff I had been sleeping on for a good while, one of the first I wrote after gettting deep into open D tuning (which I used first on “Rut”). I played it over and over thinking it’d be a JOyce manor type song with fast drums and yelling lyrics, but I couldn’t get past how pretty is sounded on acoustic. It became more of a slow burn song, something worth building to the end. Shortly after I had the lucky find of crappy cassette player/recorder and I fell in love with the disgusting, uncontrollable imperfections it puts into your recordings. Limited to one mic, I found it rather intriguing to get the most interesting tones out of the recording. Tedious but worth it in the end, one of my favorites I’ve ever recorded and it’ll become the closer to our sets for now.”

John Darnielle and Robert Pollard would be incredibly proud of the return to cassette player recording and production value.

“See the Light”

Kauffman described “See the Light” as “half as long but twice as good.” I have to say that I agree with the half-joking sentiment (with absolutely no shade thrown at EYM). There is something so captivating about the opening few moments of track that gets deep into you head, but the whole thing happens so fast that you want to immediately hit replay. The Alex G influences on this track are worn plainly on their sleeves, but Abel doesn’t merely imitate the indie auteur but instead captures the vibe and makes it their own. The vocals have a cherubic quality to them, due in part to the fact that they were recorded and played back at 1.2x speed to pitch shift the voice slightly. And the guitar line is a perfect sonic companion to the vocal movements. It doesn’t seek to imitate the melody but instead draws the listener in to the whole story being told.

Connect with Abel on Instagram and bandcamp and catch them live at the Big Room Bar in Columbus, OH on June 10th opening for String Machine and The Homeless Gospel Choir.