Tune in, turn on, and drop whatever it is you’re doing and step into Andrew Douglas Rothbard’s plastic fantastic time machine. After a dozen years of playing keyboards and bass in VSS Slaves and Pleasure Forever, Rothbard has reinvented himself as a psychedelic Svengali. Abandoned Meander is the Summer of Love on endless re-run, and just in time for its 40th Anniversary. With a folksy veneer (think Marc Bolan backed by Volume One era Soft Machine) and an overdose of aural surrealism, the artist embarks on the first in a planned five record series outlining the Discordiant concept of the “law of fives.” They are: Thesis, Antithesis, Synthesis, Parenthesis, and Paralysis, each of which represents a different stage of life. Whatever. Indulge in the swirling sound collages of “Dardevie,” or the blurry romanticism of “Rabbit Hole,” or the sleepy celestial ruminations of “Widowalk.” Three years in the making, Abandoned Meander, unlike most retro endeavors, actually sounds and plays like the era it so desperately wants to be a part of. So who says you can’t re-right history?
~ Tom Semioli
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