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The Neon Grotto

by The Academy Blues Project

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1.
Athens to Corfu 03:55
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All aboard this Aegeatic flight Red-eyed godfathers of the night Cling to their Samsonite With all their might Airtight All right I want to fly from Athens to Corfu... with you Through the sky with its brilliant azure hue And from our lofty shroud We will dust the clouds For a bus is too pedestrian And our boys on the ground will be expecting them To arrive Just in the nick of time From way up high I want to fly from Athens to Corfu with you Above the sea with its brilliant azure hue And from our lofty shroud We will dust the clouds I want to fly from Athens to Corfu with you Brilliant white against the dazzling azure hue And from their lofty shrouds The angels dust the clouds
2.
Turbulence 02:04
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No time like the present Rules were meant to get bent So f*ck it Fetch me a bucket and another breath mint Got no baggage to check Soon I'm on the flight deck Breakin' Biscoff with a tall stewardess TURBULENCE Hard knocked, hard times in the TURBULENCE Tick-tocked in kind through the TURBULENCE Get rocked in the TURBULENCE Pound a highball or three Time to stretch the old knees Puttin' the D in the ol' DVT Personal item's stowed Sure does lighten the load Head in a higher plane Well, it sure beats the road [takeoff] [the flight commences] [A rough patch approaches...] Cue the TURBULENCE Hard knocked in the turbulence TURBULENCE Tick-tocked through the turbulence TURBULENCE Get rocked in the TURBULENCE
3.
Neon Grotto 02:39
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4.
Rock Song (Don't Step in the Gooey Part) 08:55
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The mantle Lays rest a secret within Where that which forms anew begins Feel temperatures rise Melt the earth inside The fever breaks And in due time Shakes the ground While all around Flows through the cracks And will pull you down Don’t step in the gooey part Or you must return to the start In the beating of the molten heart Don’t step in the gooey part “Tellmetale Of stem or stone” As we set forth On the long course home But mind the ground Step safe and sound Or meet your end Never to be found And don’t step in the gooey part Or you must return to the start In the beating of the molten heart Don’t step in the gooey part
5.
Make Believe 05:49
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When we were children, we lived for fantasy Building worlds where we all could disappear What has happened, to these places in our mind Have they gone, or lived within us the whole time But you say it's all pretend It's only the means to an end And I would do it all again If we make believe These visions in my head, might come to be If we make believe Everything might just become reality No denouement here, won't make it through the outerwear When those self-involved, they just don't seem to care All that time spent, always hanging on the line Are you still there or has it all been in my mind When you say it's all pretend It becomes the means to an end And I would watch it all again If we make believe These visions in my head, might come to be If we make believe Everything might just become reality If we make believe These visions in my head, might come to be If we make believe Everything might just become reality
6.
Prevailing Winds 07:21
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When the waves unrest offers no quarter I will be the rock in your breakwater Prevailing winds, come over me Should you find yourself adrift on the sea Cling to my voice and this memory Prevailing winds, come over me Prevailing winds, come over me Prevailing winds, come over me If the shifting tides of which you opine And safe harbor proves too hard to find We’ll sail by the tailwind with our backs to the storm And pray safe return How I yearn for the soft oscillation of a steady beacon Prevailing winds, come over me Prevailing winds, come over me A distant foghorn blows its forlorn call But the wind blows higher Put forth by this mighty squall The waves churn as tidal changes carry them and draw the sea in Lost in the sound In sight of an island Wind whistling down Like the call of the siren
7.
All Will Be Revealed 04:37
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As the dust begins to clear From the unsuspecting air/heir All of the world-weary Return to the village square Hear/here the poll workers recount Assertions far beyond the pale As the ouroboros turns its tale/tail Inside a tale/tail inside a tale/tail The crowd gathers close To hear the full report Whispered words about the trouble In the nation’s highest court How the judges have disrobed And Mobius stripped down The recently disbarred drunkards Stumble through the town The winded trumpeteers They sound their weary call But the echoes of their mighty belfry Rise above it all As the wide-eyed wedding march Marries sacred and profane The banal bean counters know It is just a numbers game Soon the elephants forget Who’s master and who’s slave Packing peanuts in their trunks They join in the fray They join the parade Rose trellises crown From the palace to the fields The Royal guards adjust their heading Underneath their shields The appearance of the Queen Empiric clothes conceal To Lord or Serf there be no question All will be revealed! All will be revealed! All Will Be Revealed! ALL WILL BE REVEALED! (This time)
8.
Little Island, Big Volcano 02:13
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about

The Academy Blues Project’s debut studio LP is THE NEON GROTTO. The album is the first of three that ABP will share in 2021.

THE NEON GROTTO’s origins predate the coronavirus pandemic, bobbing forth from three twilight sessions in December 2019 at the venerable Six Eight Studios, the rock quartet’s longtime rehearsal space (and de facto clubhouse) located in lower Manhattan. Collaborating with Six Eight proprietor, legendary NYC bassist and trusted partner Perkin Barnes, who engineered the sessions and imbued the work with a warm, heartening creative spirit, the band recorded the album together in the resonant basement space — surrounded by Six Eight’s signature hand-painted bright blue walls, and using the same amps, drums and mics on which ABP has rehearsed for the better part of a decade.  Performing at close range and in familiar environs gave the band a natural electricity and a confidence to barrel forward with their musical impulses, recording the basic tracks for each of THE NEON GROTTO’s eight new songs in just a few full takes.

Rogue waves intervened.  Waylaid by lockdown restrictions and personal losses, the band did not regroup to take stock of the initial sessions’ work until midsummer 2020.  Yet despite the distance of seven months (the band’s longest-ever gap in playing together), seismic cultural reckonings and a worsening global health crisis, the modest raw tracks of THE NEON GROTTO still felt vibrant, present, even joyful — capturing a spark on tape from the season prior like a message in a bottle.  

With a resolve to honor the work of the initial sessions and keep the tunes’ resiliency afloat, ABP completed the recording of THE NEON GROTTO in a newfound remote collaboration.  Between July and November 2020, the members of the band — a.k.a. Mark Levy, Ben Easton, Trevor Brown and Jim Bloom — recorded additional guitars, vocals, keyboards, strings, sleigh bells and even kookaburras at a distance from their respective corners of the globe, completing the record just in time to ring in 2021.

Drawing inspiration from the album’s namesake 'grotta azurra' — an ancient reflective sea cave in the Isle of Capri famous for its unusual electric glow, generated by the natural refractions of light and water — the band sought to achieve a balance of familiar, elemental sounds with surreal Technicolor gestures.  From the pared-back Aegean soul of the album’s opening track, “Athens to Corfu”; its epic and imaginative centerpiece, “Rock Song (Don’t Step in the Gooey Part),” a song cycle and musical analog to the journey of rocks; its power pop grooves on lead single “Turbulence”; to its lush lap steel guitar-led coda, “Little Island, Big Volcano,” the resulting record shows a range of The Academy Blues Project’s rich musicianship, diverse influences and timeless songwriting. 

Mixed & produced by ABP, mastered by Dan Millice and illustrated by Meera Dugal, THE NEON GROTTO is an aqueous sonic missive — penned by hand, cast out from a small electric blue cave, buoying the listener toward brighter shores.

credits

released February 5, 2021

produced by The Academy Blues Project
mixed by Jim Bloom (2, 5, 6, 7) & Ben Easton (1, 3, 4, 8)

Perkin Barnes — engineering
ABP — add’l engineering
Dan Millice — mastering
Meera Dugal — artwork

performed & arranged by The Academy Blues Project:
Mark Levy — guitar, vocals, electric slide, wind chimes
Ben Easton — keyboards, mellotron, mug, add’l arrangements, vox
Trevor Brown — electric bass
Jim Bloom — drums, sleigh bells, guitar, percussion, vox

recorded at Six Eight Studios (December 2019)
& in lockdown at 232 Studios and various apartments (July - November 2020).

tracks 1, 4, 5, 6, & 7
written by Ben Easton & Mark Levy
published by Jamino & Sons Music (ASCAP) and What On Earth Music (ASCAP)

tracks 2, 8
written by Mark Levy
published by What On Earth Music (ASCAP)

track 3
written by Ben Easton
published by Jamino & Sons Music (ASCAP)

kookaburra field recording by Gabi Miles
special thanks & love to Ihsan Rashada Barnes and Neil "Nail" Johannessen.

xx,
ABP
© 2021 Witch Hat Recordings, all rights reserved.

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The Academy Blues Project New York, New York

The Academy Blues Project (ABP) is a band from New York City. The group’s music—including three albums from 2021—blends electric storytelling with elements of rock, the namesake blues, power pop and classic soul.

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