Abandon Earth - Proximity to the Sun

Abandon Earth

Proximity to the Sun
self-released; 2015

3.4 out of 5

By Ted Rogen

CJ Coward (vocals/guitar), Sid Ayyagari (guitar/vocals), Jonah Pfluger (bass/vocals) and Davis Beaston (drums/vocals) are four young guys who happen to be friends and rock out together. Abandon Earth may not be the most inventive rock band to come out his year but their no frills EP Proximity to the Sun still contains some decent songs. 

The band rocks and indiscriminately picks at genres but mostly align with alternative ‘90s bands like The Smashing Pumpkins and the lesser-known Hum. You can hear riffs that are comparable throughout and maybe sudden flashes of the one the best drummers in rock history - Jimmy Chamberlin. 

Coward sounds like a young guy when he sings. It’s not an insult or praise but just an observation. He sounds like he is about the legal voting age and it is a factor to how the music plays out. The rest of the band holds down the fort pretty well. There wasn’t one particular instrument that stuck out to me time and time again. Most of the songs revolve around a power chord progression, lead guitar, a steady, a simple bass line and drums

The band opens with opens with “Eh, Bomb a Nation.” They do a good job mixing it up in the beginning to keep your attention. Riffs ascend and then descend before settling into the first verse where Coward sings, “I can't help myself but push you all away / Glass rooms have no secrets, occupy my space / Full capacity stripped from reality my brain stem seems misplaced / I can't give it up today.”

The guitars sound like something you would hear from Hum on “Needles” while “Whole Again” utilizes clean guitar at least part of the time. More Hum influenced guitar patterns emerge on “Dream” which is arguably the highlight on the EP. 

Abandon Earth can play well and have some chemistry but still need to do some digging. That don’t have much of defined sound, which yells this is Abandon Earth. It’s broad and the band seems to be wearing their influences on their sleeve. I’m going to wager this band hasn’t been playing together for very long. The good news they know how to rock and are young - now comes the hard part - finding the X-factor that makes the music stick out like a sore thumb.

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