Abbot Talks HD- The Experimental Push That Music Needs

From excited guitar riffs to zany dance interludes, “HD” by Abbot defies genre, a piece crafted by someone who clearly loves music. While it certainly finds roots in the whole “anti pop” proliferation, the songs range from rock anthems to electronically-inclined ragers, pushing the limits of which pieces can come together to make one song, and broadly, an album. It synthesizes pieces from each point of nostalgia, creating something oddly familiar, yet groundbreaking at the same time. Each moment is meaningful and carefully selected, allowing both the sound and message to flow through uninterrupted by filler or unfit sounds, a sign of mastery welcome in any field. Deeply personal yet exciting and innovative, HD is truly an album for everyone.

Under The Rug: Considering this is your debut album, what was it like consolidating the songs into this piece?

Abbot: I probably made around 30 songs trying to find the right ones to put on HD. It actually was really hard for me to toss out all the ones I liked but I had to make room for the ones I loved. I wanted this album to be something I loved, something I could look back on in the future and be proud that it was my first album.

You experiment with a range of styles. What helped you decide what those would be?

I tried to strengthen my roots. I wanted to be authentic to me and what I like about music. I grew up on rap, punk and indie rock, with some edm here and there. I wanted to find a way to mesh all that together in a way that showed all of me in each song.

In terms of lyrics, what was your songwriting process for the project?

I grew up on a lot of rap, so I approach music in a way that heavily emphasizes the importance of lyrics. I knew what I wanted to say with this album, I just needed to figure out how to say it. Since I’ve started making music, I studied the rappers I grew up on. How they had overarching stories, how they would reference previous lyrics from other songs to create continuity, how they would carefully arrange their syntax to get the most out of every word while also not sounding like they’re reading from a thesaurus. I’ve always fucking loved it. Their words created pictures for me, and I wanted to do that for my audience. I made sure there wasn’t a wasted line in any of the songs, because that’s how much each song meant to me. No wasted words.

What were your influences while writing and piecing together HD?

I modeled the album after J cole’s “4 Your Eyez Only.” 10 tracks. One story. But each song can stand alone. Musically, I’m always inspired by my friends Ryan Leahan. patchymate, Gordon Snyder, and gravehours, whether intentional or not. I think after hearing brakence’s album “punk2,” I had a little breakthrough with HD, and realized what pieces needed to come together to make the album whole.

With the song names, there appears to be a sort of conceptual structure to the project, what can you tell us about that?

HD is the story of the last 3 years of my life, beginning right after my breakup with my first love, and ending with me confronting my own depression and trauma. I honestly think I could make a movie out of this album. I’d love to someday.

As for the instrumental, what was the production process like?

For some songs I’d sit on an unfinished instrumental for months, and others I would nearly finish the instrumental in like 3 days. No matter what I would always tweak knobs until the song was ready to be sent to Pat for mastering. I had a lot of production help from Gordo, and Pat plays guitar all over the album. I love the hyperpop scene so I took a lot of inspiration from that when producing. I also got a lot better at playing guitar during the making of HD. (though I’m still kind of trash LMAO)

Is there anything from the various aspects of the album that you want to carry forward into your future music?

I never want to release an album that doesn’t have a story. I think storytelling is my favorite part of music, and I’ll continue to do that with all my songs. I also loved just working with my friends. I never wanna give up the feeling of sending a demo to one of da boyz and having them play a part in the direction the song goes.

If you could say one thing to sum up the album, what would it be?

Are there any other hiphopheads that love 100 gecs out there??? Maybe you’ll like my album???

9. What’s in store for the future as far as your content goes?

I may or may not be flying to AZ to work with a company that may or may not rhyme with

voter gas

Also may or may not be going public with Something Over There

Anything else you’d like to add?

HD,

I put my everything in HD,

I know I said October 18th,

I still hope you’re listening to HD.