Leo Abrahams
The Unrest Cure

A mixed genre album is no easy feat; it can be the hardest experiment for a band or artist to do. It’s easy to be labelled pretentious and result in a major flop, but Leo Abrahams hasn’t done it here.

The much sought after British guitarist has accomplished what many artists cannot - trying something different with every track on his album with no fear or hidden agenda in sight. He just tried to produce some quality tracks, and has accomplished exactly that.  

There are huge stints of well-written instrumentation going on here, as well creating music that resonates beautifully with the vocals and soft guitar sounds. This would be the album produced if David Bowie and Thom Yorke worked together (which isn’t a bad idea actually).

The guitar parts in the album are the sure highlight and set it apart (which makes sense as Abrahams’ central focus is the guitar), with him seemingly able to set any mood for any song on this album. At times there is a Jeff Beck feel with the guitar, which comes through enchantingly. This is a great example of many instruments working perfectly in harmony with each other.

With so many genuinely different sounding songs appearing here it’s hard to find those that stand out and cry for attention. Fragile Mind creates a powerful and instrumental beginning to the album and sets a relaxed mood for the album to come.

2000 Years From Now reminds you of the poetic punk John Cooper Clarke whilst City Machine adds a jazzy pop feel and features KT Tunstall on vocals.

Banks of Kyoto has a Chinese feel that reminds you of a martial arts film set in the vast beautiful china county side, inspiring images of fighting samurai.

The second half of the album owes much of its creativity to some truly melodic guitar parts that you can’t help but be reminded of the sunny beaches from the O.C (but don’t worry this is actually deeper music than the soundtrack to the O.C). Devil’s Mouth is as dirty as it sounds and adds something different to the album again with a dark and industrial Gary Numan sound.

The Unrest Cure is a fantastic effort from Leo Abrahams that will surely get critics on his side from the beginning. A well-crafted, intelligently written album that shows creative promise - worth a listen to for something more than music.

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   Information
   Released: 11th February 08
   Label: Canderblinks
   Track Listings

   By Matthew Byard
   From Derby
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