The Most Underrated Band on the Planet: A Retrospective
Part 1: I am Not a Horse
The Brave Little Abacus is hard to pin down. They were eclectic, energetic, experimental, odd, off putting, and above all else, they were remarkable. What The Brave Little Abacus is not, however, is well known. Self-releasing almost all of their music, playing in legion halls, and forming slightly ahead of the emo revival scene, TBLA were mostly overlooked and underappreciated during their time. Creating some of the most challenging, intimate, and delightful music ever put to tape for half a decade somehow wasn’t enough - the band never broke out of their local New England scene, and sadly released their last record and played their last show in 2012. Combining mathy, sporadic, and unorthodox music ripe with complex song structures and a distinctive use of keyboard, TBLA filled a niche that The World Is a Beautiful Place & I am No Longer Afraid To Die would later capitalize on. But outside of the fact that both bands are from New England, and have a keyboard player, there really isn’t any way to compare TBLA to The World Is… or any other band for that matter - they occupy a space all to themselves. Since their demise in 2012, The Brave Little Abacus has since been discovered by many internet music listeners hungry for fresh, genre defying content. However, TBLA’s post-breakup following remains small; it’s much more intimate than the popularity fellow emo band American Football has enjoyed recently, and it’s not likely to result in a reunion or comeback record. The Brave Little Abacus are gone for good, and what they left us, a demo, a split, two full lengths, and an EP forms one of the most compelling discographies of the 21st century. In only five years, The Brave Little Abacus developed into an unsung force, and it all started with a demo.
The Brave Little Abacus’ debut
Demo? is not a great place to start with the band. Its cacophony of multiple instruments, voices, samples, and noises, raw production, and unpredictable song structures makes it difficult to slip into to. It’s clear from the opening salvo The Brave Little Abacus are unlike any other band you’ve heard - in the first 60 seconds, TBLA spews out video game sounds, yelps, harmonized vocals, and instrumental action that fervently alternates between calm acoustic and aggressive guitar, drums, horns, and gang vocals. If that sounds overwhelming, that’s because it is, as The Brave Little Abacus’ labyrinthian songwriting and unfiltered full-blast energy take some getting used to. Lead vocalist Adam Demirjian’s vocals are buried in the mix, the background vocals are constantly peaking, the lyrics are bizarre, and the music is all over the place, yet The Brave Little Abacus’ charm and clever songwriting transcend the demo’s particularly rough presentation.
Much of The Brave Little Abacus’ music exists in this idiosyncratic ether between genius and beautiful, and nails-on-a-chalkboard. TBLA’s music rides the line between experimental and pop, crafting music that is equally challenging and rewarding. Underneath the yelping, the Ren and Stimpy samples, and the eccentric and raw music is a well of passion and character that would remain constant to The Brave Little Abacus’ work.
Demo? has a few too many ideas crammed into its 15 minutes runtime - ideas that would be fleshed out in later releases - but has enough heart and character to adequately set the template for a nearly flawless discography.
