Sorry for the header/title cheap-out. I’ve just been wrestling with the right thing to say about this guy for months.. everything seems like I’m undercutting him, so I’m whipping out the rhyming dictionary. Say it:
“Fred Abong can do no wrong.”
I like it. Says everything. And it fits: Musician, philosopher, professor, astrologer, immortal juggernaut.. handsome, intelligent as fuck, probably immortal too. I could go on. I will. Hey, let’s meet Fred.
This is Fred Abong.
This is Fred Abong’s latest album, Pulsing.
Fred’s first impression as an artist reached me as the bass player on Throwing Muses’ The Real Ramona (Warner Brothers, 1991) and not very much later on (band) Belly’s Star (Sire, 1994). Two very different sounding bands, very different sounding material, but tied together nicely by a common thread — on the surface, it was mostly (former Muses bandmate) Tanya Donnelly’s voice being the common denominator which brought forth the common thread, but really, Throwing Muses was always – to me at least, Kristin Hersh’s band. Throwing Muses continued as a trio without any sort of consistency or structural damage after losing a second guitar and voice..
And so instead, It must be said,
That common thread, was Fred.
That’s right I’m complimenting the bass player.. poetically.
*Crickets.* Yeah, sorry – bass player jokes aren’t funny unless you’re a music student and/or tabletop D&D player. *Rimshot.*
Whatever. Anyway, Fred popped back onto my radar last year when he was touring as bass player for the Kristin Hersh Trio – I read a lot of press and haunted a few Twitter feeds for the tour, and I loved the album – and went away from this thinking, “oh yeah.. Fred Abong. That guy’s awesome. Wonder where he’s been, anyway?”
Checking this out, I see not only’s Fred doing bass duties for the Kristin Hersh Trio, he’s also opening the tour as a solo performer —- and cutting out drawn-out filler recounts this is such a fucking relief, because you don’t write an article on the bass player.. it just isn’t done. I mean unless it’s Geddy Lee or Jaco Pastorius, and I really don’t like fusion jazz all that much. But okay, I’ll cop to liking Rush. I like Rush. I sleep well enough with this. And I’ve played tabletop D&D.
Please, and thanks in advance for don’t you fucking judge me. Thanks again.
Now: I’m focusing on his bass playing because he’s touring with Kristin Hersh Trio as such, but recently I’ve become impressed with (among many other things) Fred Abong’s work as a solo musician. Liking to be all modest and low key about his own music, the best source is his website.
Fred’s most recent collection of songs is 2018’s Homeless, which can get listened to and get got via his Bandcamp.
My favorite track on Homeless is “Hi Avalon”, which features a tonally huge hypnotic solo acoustic guitar progression coupled with his own hypnotic baritone voice:
The songs are short, but easy to get lost in – Fred’s chord choices lean toward being dark and minor while at once being comforting, much like said accompanying voice. And on second thought this is a case in which it’s acceptable to write about the bass player, because again, Fred’s a baritone. Which is actually more like being a mezzo-soprano than an alto, so it’s rarer than one might think and worth every strip and second of bragging rights. Here’s an older song, “Vanishing Spell”:
Anyway, anyway, anyway; always me with the ‘anyways’. But hey – it’s a better filler than how-who-got-where tangential descriptions, which only ever end up coming off like supervillain origins. And even though I like supervillain origins as much as I like Rush and tabletop D&D,
Fred Abong is definitely NOT a supervillain.
So I’m not going overboard recounting his Fred Abong origins in preparation for maybe seeing him put out some bass talent with the Kristin Hersh Trio – just do it. Or wait until the guy comes around playing solo, maybe. Either way it’s totally worth the effort. Versatility rocks, and so does Fred.
This being said, It must be read, The following song is drop-dead solid, In no small part, because of Fred.
“Two Step” (Throwing Muses’ The Real Ramona)
Know what? Fuck it, that’s one of my favorite ever songs.. and the bass part is brilliant. Seals the song, says what it needs to, invokes some of the better sounding players of its time like Simon Gallup of The Cure. Fills the composition tonally and spatially. Sooo many bass players in 90s music did not understand how to do this —- which is why we have grindcore. Meh. Personally I’m not interested in grindcore, nor growling over-treble-y bass parts in general.. if you’re gonna be all about the bass, you gotta remember about the no treble. Or at least just a dash of it for a bit of punch because you don’t want to come off all muddy. Here’s another bass contribution by Fred.
“Feed the Tree” from Belly’s Star
Star is an amazingly good album.. it got nominated for a Grammy (best album, best new artist) and that’s not too shabby. Totally shabless, just like this guy: all around hella good.
Whatever… I said “hella good.” Fuck you.
No, not you. And certainly not Fred Abong, who’s presently on tour once again doing bass duties for the Kristin Hersh Trio, who’re opening for some band called “The Pixies”, who’re supposed to be really good and certainly worth checking out as well.
… buuuut I think the Pixies are playing the last slot on the shows, so you don’t have to if you’re just going to see Fred. Whatever you do if opportunity arises, like get a snack, or get lost in a song – and yeah, even fucking judge me – definitely delve into to this guy’s work.
The Kristin Hersh Trio is supporting the Possible Dust Clouds album (2018, Fire Records), which some dude did a short write up of here.
Dropping this for Fred, you guys.
Oh.. I kind of want to hear a grindcore version of that song now.
Photo credits = pinched from Kristin Hersh’s Twitter feed. Probably.