Upcoming gigs
Tues 24th Feb: La Centrala, Birmingham w/ Misery Bacon
Thurs 26th Feb: Klang Tone Records, Stroud w/ Misery Bacon
Sunday March 1st: The Puzzle Hall Inn, Sowerby Bridge w/ SA Malley & David Birchall
Monday March 2nd: Peer Hat Manchester w/ SA Malley & David Birchall
Bio
Andy Abbott is an artist, musician and writer who lives in West Yorkshire, UK. For a long time Andy 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.
In 2024 Andy released ‘Music For Psychiatric Wards (And Fluid Structures)’; a compilation of recordings inspired by his experiences as a creative practitioner performing ambient music in psychiatric wards across Yorkshire in 2023
Previous releases include tapes and vinyl for Bloxham Tapes, Reverb Worship and Folklore Tapes. He has collaborated with Alice Hubble, Aby Vulliamy and Dean McPhee; and shared tours and bills with Maurizio Abate and Above the Tree, Edgars Rubenis, Ex-Easter Island Head and Norway’s Soft Noise Ensemble.
“a beautifully structured hour of ambient music; reflective and calm with endlessly unravelling layers.” – Uncut, 2024
“…a genre-defying album that is as fluid as its title would suggest. From the patter of the steel pan to the whirr and drone of the organ, what unfurls in between these two harbours is a deeply searching travelogue; at times water-like, at others light-filled as if in some kind of morning glow.” – The Quietus, 2024
‘a remarkably affecting series of tracks that vary quite wildly in terms of mood and instrumentation … I could listen to it for weeks.’ – Norman Records, 2024
“the album is reminiscent of composers like La Monte Young, Hans Otto or Arco Part, where the approach is to pick out a nuanced emotion and explore it fully. That said, there is also adventure in the album’s minimalism. It feels much like a meandering, richly-adorned Greg Foat composition, split out into its constituent parts, each given the chance to live and breathe independently of one another.” – Dirty Sunbeams, 2024
“This is another solo project helmed by the Bradford based musician Andrew DR Abbott, whose work cartwheels through genres the way fat old men wish they could move through cheese. It is the first documentation of ADRA, and it’s quite a package … The music is improvised on a variety of instruments (from baritone guitar to ocarina), and the pieces are designed to inspire us to dream of a post-capitalist utopia. Since I do that all the time already, this is just the sort of thing I should be listening to. As should you. A great offering of the minimal as maximal.” – Byron Coley for The Wire, 2020
DISCOGRAPHY / LINKS
Music for Psychiatric Wards and Fluid Structures album (2024 ADRA Records) stream: https://andyabbott.bandcamp.com/album/music-for-psychiatric-wards-and-fluid-structures
Ballad of the Linkisheere Commons (2024 Folklore Tapes): https://folkloretapes.bandcamp.com/track/lincolnshire-ballad-of-the-linksheere-commons
Erewyrehve album (2021 ADRA Records) stream: https://andyabbott.bandcamp.com/album/erewyrehve-2
Six Principles of Erewyrehve (2020 Bloxham Tapes) stream: https://andyabbott.bandcamp.com/album/six-principles-of-erewyrehve
Ambient Music Board video (2024)
The Book of Machines Parts I and II (2023 Reverb Worship) video
PRESS
Interview about Music for Psychiatric Wards (The Quietus 2024)
Andy Abbott / ADRA Projects 