ADRA (Andy Abbott of That Fucking Tank, Nope) announces London show and shares "(Untitled) Organ" from Music for Psychiatric Wards album
ADRA
Shares "Untitled (Organ)"
Taken From Music for Psychiatric Wards (and Fluid Structures)
Due 1st November on ADRA Records
Live Dates inc. London's New River Studios on 24th November
ADRA, the solo project from Andy Abbott (That Fucking Tank, Nope), will release new album Music for Psychiatric Wards (and Fluid Structures) on 1st November via ADRA Records. Today he shares a third track from the album, the gentle, droning "Untitled (Organ)". Listen below..
A beautiful collection of immersive soundscapes, Music for Psychiatric Wards (and Fluid Structures) is informed by the time Abbott worked as a Creative Practitioner in psychiatric wards in Yorkshire as part of a three-month NHS pilot scheme.
Working on wards for people with dementia and memory problems as well those who had been sectioned, Abbott would play music once a week for 6 hours a day, responding to the mood of the service users to shift the tone of the music he made in real time. “If it was a flat day, I may decide to do something a bit more upbeat or if it was a very chaotic day or people were very agitated, I would play ambient music to calm things down,” he says. He also created an Ambient Accessible Music Board for both staff and service users to play with, and encouraged collaboration within the ward, allowing for spontaneous jam sessions.
The resulting compositions that Abbott constructed as part of this project now make up a finished album: Music for Psychiatric Wards (and Fluid Structures). A beautiful record that is a varied yet engulfing collection of music that runs the gauntlet from immersive soundscapes to organ drones, and features the gentle plucks of baritone guitar, the ethereal chimes of a mbira and the hypnotic flurries of a steel pan drum.
Listen: Untitled (Organ)
Bandcamp: https://andyabbott.bandcamp.com/track/untitled-organ
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/6YKrS2rquj02VGpZd4hET2?si=3182c778c1e34ce8
Apple: https://music.apple.com/us/album/organ-single/1773637766
Youtube: https://youtu.be/Cc4LJ9eefxI?si=hIFqP-dII1EHcyhh
ADRA Live Dates
Sunday Nov 3rd - Victoria Theatre, Halifax supporting Ex-Easter Island Head and Kar Pouzi
Sunday Nov 24th - New River Studios, London with Stef Kett and more
Wednesday Nov 27th - Imaginary Wines, Todmorden*
Thursday Nov 28th - Fountain Arts, Scunthorpe*
Friday Nov 29th - Althams, Nelson*
Saturday Nov 30th - Victoria Hall, Glossop*
* with Edgars Rubenis
More about Music for Psychiatric Wards (and Fluid Structures):
For a long time Andy Abbott was synonymous with pummelling noise; playing guitar in celebrated Leeds bands such as the ferocious duo That Fucking Tank or the double-drumming psych outfit Nope. However, in recent years – under his solo moniker ADRA – he has been making minimalist abstract music, alongside more acoustic and ambient-leaning explorations. On top of this, he has also been working as an interdisciplinary artist on a variety of socially engaged projects. “I've always kept those things reasonably separate but then this opportunity came up,” he says.
The opportunity in question was to work as a Creative Practitioner – almost like an artist in residence – in psychiatric wards in Yorkshire as part of an NHS pilot scheme run by Creative Minds and Everybody Arts. So for three months, once a week, Abbott would enter these wards and play music for 6 hours. “There's spaces where people might congregate informally, or hang out in or pass by, and I wanted to be in those spaces,” he explains. “So it felt a bit more like I was soundtracking the ward, or even busking in it, rather than being like: right, you've got to come and do this activity with me. I just thought I'd go in there and respond to the atmosphere.”
The resulting compositions that he constructed as part of this project now make up a finished album: Music for Psychiatric Wards (and Fluid Structures). A beautiful record that is a varied yet engulfing collection of music that runs the gauntlet from immersive soundscapes to organ drones, and features the gentle plucks of baritone guitar, the ethereal chimes of a mbira and the hypnotic flurries of a steel pan drum.
Abbott had played outside nursing homes for elderly people during Covid and had seen how much of a positive impact it could have. However, while music in institutional care settings can often be rooted in nostalgia or purely to soothe or pacify, Abbott took a different approach. “A lot of the time the music that is brought into those spaces is fairly conventional and maybe a little patronising,” he says. “But I just played what I would have played if I was playing anywhere. People quite liked the fact that it was something different. The demographics of people that are considered older now have changed. They're not just wanting to listen to the old post-war rock'n'roll songs anymore – they are wearing Metallica t-shirts.”
So when Abbott entered the psychiatric ward, he did so with an open mind. “I was going in there with loop pedals and little handmade kalimbas and acoustic instruments,” he recalls. “From these experiences I then designed, with input from the staff and service users, an ‘Ambient Accessible Music Board’. It’s a bit like a musical fidget board that combines various instruments including thumb piano, guitar and harp strings, chimes and other tactile parts like rubber bands and springs.”
The wards that Abbott worked on were for people with dementia and memory problems as well those who had been sectioned. “So multiple levels of complex needs,” explains Abbott, who would respond to the mood of the service users to shift the tone of the music he made in real time. “If it was a flat day, I may decide to do something a bit more upbeat or if it was a very chaotic day or people were very agitated, I would play ambient music to calm things down,” he says. “I was playing into that space and trying to respond to the physical and social context and provide something that was levelling.”
It also became something of a collaboration, with Abbott leaving out instruments as an invitation if people wanted to join in. And join in they did. “This allowed spontaneous jam sessions to arise,” Abbott says. “Either in duets, small groups or sometimes with larger groups of staff and service users singing, dancing and playing instruments. It was like a mini rave at times.” However, it’s important to stress that what Abbott was undertaking was not intended as music therapy. “You have to have a very specific qualification to be a music therapist,” he points out. “I wasn’t aiming to heal individual people with the music. I just wanted to soundtrack the ward as a first step for engagement. As it turned out, you could see the positive affect it was having on service users, and there was a significant reduction in the number of violent incidents on the wards.”
The finished album, despite being sonically expansive and filled with a variety of instruments, is a pristinely produced and cohesive collection of work. “Half of the tracks recorded by Joe Osborne the other half of the tracks are recorded with Mark Simms,” explains Abbott, the later of who has spent twenty years building a unique Neve sound desk the album was put through. “It’s really quite rare and sought after mixing desk that he's put together,” Abbott says. “I was essentially putting this toy instrument through the recording desk but the sound is so rich and detailed in comparison to what you're expecting.”
The entire project – from being in the wards to completing the album – also ended up having a personal connection for Abbott. “My dad had been in a psychiatric ward towards the end of his life,” he says. “So I think also there was a part of it that was about wanting to go back into those spaces and understand them a bit more. Maybe that's given it a slightly more emotional connection than just doing droney abstract music.”
Ultimately, it’s been a hugely significant project for Abbott who has not only made some of his most distinct, innovative and rich work to-date but it’s also been a creative process that has allowed him to rethink his own approach to making music. “It has been a really interesting and quite brave project from the NHS,” he says. “And also seeing how this music can create a shared experience for quite a diverse group of people in those environments has made me realise that maybe what I'm most interested in with music is its potential to form a connection between people.”
Watch a demonstration here.
Album Preorder:
https://andyabbott.bandcamp.com/album/music-for-psychiatric-wards-and-fluid-structures
Tracklisting:
I. Untitled (Steel Pan) Part One
II. Untitled (Ambient Music Board)
III. Untitled (Baritone Guitar and Mbira)
IV. Untitled (Organ)
V. Untitled (Electric Mbira)
VI. Untitled (Baglama)
VII. Untitled (Slide Guitar)
VIII. Untitled (Baritone Guitar)
IX. Untitled (Steel Pan) Part Two
