Location: The U.K. and America
Album: Monte Carlo, out October 28 via Suicide Squeeze
There’s something magical about finding someone else who understands exactly what you’re trying to do. People always talk about how much they value a partner who finishes their sandwiches (sentences, dumbass), but finding that person who sees your creation and makes it better without losing your soul in the new work? That’s a special relationship.
The duo behind Abraxas, Carolina Faruolo and Danny Lee Blackwell, embody that type of dynamic, and Monte Carlo is as transfixing a creation as I’ve heard in years. It’s this blend of psych rock, R&B, cumbia, tropicalia, and a desert folk sensibility, and it’s wonderfully arresting and makes me picture a western/noir film set in central America, all nighttime dancehalls with overflowing cocktails and cigarettes. It’s vibrant and lush. Knowing they were a literal ocean apart when writing this, it seems like you wanted to create a space for both of them to escape into. Faruolo explains how they got together:
“Danny and I have been good friends for a long time, and we’ve also been big fans of each other’s musical projects and the inspiration behind them. The idea of starting a band together happened quite fast. I showed Danny some demos I had been working on for my own band, and he sent them back, adding some amazing vocal melodies and chord progressions on top.
“As soon as we listened back to those early home recordings, we knew we had something special going; it felt quite effortless. The songs just started to flow, and we complemented each other’s ideas with each iteration. It was truly inspirational to work with Danny; he is both assertive and collaborative, which is ideal for a writing partner, and I’d say that with him in Los Angeles and myself in Manchester, the only obstacle we faced was the time difference.”
“If you’re looking,” Blackwell adds, “you could find people to help see your vision and encourage your writing or playing, but in rare times, you can see the same thing and introduce new ideas fluidly—It’s like that with Carolina. Musically, we’re of the same mind, in that our differences are strengths when put together.”
As to this notion of escapism, that was very intentional, as Faruolo explains:
“We wanted planet Abraxas to be a place where our creativity could run free. The visual and conceptual side of the record is as important for us as the music. There’s loads of references about things we’re into, for example the closing track ‘Göbekli Tepe’ was named after a Neolithic temple in Turkey (and the oldest site of this kind in the world) that basically rewrote the timeline of human civilization.”
Photo courtesy of Emily Marcovecchio
