Melodic Machinations -Lyrically Speaking : Fred Abong

Saturday, 29 July 2023

Fred Abong

Musician Fred Abong’s interest in music began in childhood. He explains “some of my earliest childhood memories center on music. In particular, I had much older half-siblings who played guitar (steel string and classical). I remember being 4 or 5 years old and lying on the carpet listening to my sister emotively singing folky, Joan Armatrading type stuff, or my brother stoically rehearsing a Bach piece on classical. In either case, I recall being totally transported by the music in the air … very dreamlike and intense. I’ve never really lost that sensibility and am hopefully still being guided by that foundational experience in my own work.”

Currently calling New Orleans home the singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist grew up in the Northeast. With experience in various hardcore Punk bands as a drummer/bassist/guitarist, Fred has been an bassist for Throwing Muses, then Belly as well as a bassist for KH Electric Trio. With a PHD in Humanities Fred also spent time as a professor before returning to music. He describes his journey as having “taken me a long time to find my ‘voice’ as a songwriter/musician. But everything I’ve done before ‘going solo’ has undoubtedly contained something that would figure into my own work. I don’t think I could provide an itemized list of those things, but I *can* say that I always knew/sensed that I was heading in the solo direction. I also intuited that late blooming was likely”.

Not really comfortable classifying his work as a set genre or style, Fred explains “I am only interested in songs, which transcend genre or style. The mode of delivery is, or should be, secondary to the substance of the song (lyrics, rhythm, and melody). Genre and style are ephemeral; real songs are sturdier than that. This is my focus”.

With what Fred describes as a “Taoist” approach to songwriting he says he “flips between the polarities of light/dark while maintaining an awareness of the unified whole. Themes: see comment above on Taoism. Messages: I wouldn’t do that to anyone”. Though of course appreciating the musical work of others he doesn’t set out to emulate anyone else’s music but instead makes music that is overtly shaped by experiences and engagements in his own life. Fred says that “basically, with every song I am just paying attention to the words and sounds that are coming through … it’s a kind of simultaneous discovery/creation event”.

In order to stay creatively inspired and continue to grow musically Fred explains and advises “The only thing I, or anyone, can do in this regard is pray. And remain humble. Or pray to remain humble. No guarantees, but it’s the best shot one has”.

Describing live performance as a “battleground of appearing and disappearing” Fred doesn’t necessarily think enjoyment figures into it for him. For Fred live performance is “a major spiritual test … one of the biggest, really. It’s a situation wherein the relationship with one’s ego (too much or too little) is foregrounded or highlighted. Passing the test means getting one’s ego properly modulated so that the force/sacrality of the song is evident. Easy to say … difficult to execute”.

When asked about his hopes musically for the future Fred says “My ability to see into the future, musically speaking, is limited. I do generally have one or two projects in motion simultaneously and have a pretty solid picture of how each of those will develop. But the next thing is always a mystery … until I get a strong intuition and I all of a sudden just *know* what it is going to be. This has happened with every project … for example, I am currently working on a record of piano/keyboard-based songs. But I *knew* I was going to be working on this record at least a year before I even owned a keyboard”. Ultimately Fred wants to create more music which he can faithfully deliver while surviving as a full-time musician.

To those interested in listening to Fred’s music he suggests “I would say that my music might not grab you immediately, or that it might even sound unusual, but if you spend a little time with it, you will find it slowly but permanently revealing its rewards. Try It!”