Transparent Towns [LP]

John Calvin Abney - Transparent Towns [LP]

John Calvin Abney rises again from the Oklahoman prairies with his latest album Transparent Towns. The ten songs focus on how we remember, and ultimately accept, though he is not always certain the memories we carry adequately mark the moments that make us._x000B__x000B_œThis record is wrapped around the passage of time, whether or not we can trust the memories that we swear on, how we forgive ourselves and others as seasons turn, and how we define what is important as we roll the boulder back up the hill, Abney says of Transparent Towns. œWe build these routines and live our stories, we rely on our histories and our memories - spoken and recorded. Now, were relying on copies of copies, memories of memories, all packed like sardines into our phones, and were losing the ability to tell our own stories. I have to constantly remind myself, as well as redefine what matters at the end of a day._x000B__x000B_Transparent Towns is the seventh studio album for Abney, and his first since 2022s Tourist, which he crafted after spending the pandemic as an itinerant writer. In contrast Abney penned most of the albums 10 tracks during a period of introspection and convalescence while recovering from vocal cord surgery in 2023. The time to himself - œI didnt sing for nearly a year, and after surgery, I couldnt talk for a month, and couldnt sing for over three months, he says, left him contemplating how to trace his experiences in the silence._x000B__x000B_The albums title track is Abneys take on the inaccessible past, witnessing loss and grief through the years, damning the œdays we let go left unsaid, and accepting the uncontrollable circumstances we are sometimes placed in. œThe troubles and the joys exist vibrantly in your memory, but youre wondering if you remember correctly, Abney remarks. œIve sometimes had this sort of confusion between memory and dreams - you crafted this ideal in your head of how things were or might be, in order to soften the blow of a harsher reality._x000B__x000B_The places we inhabit dictate how our memories form, and for Abney, there is one place to which he is constantly drawn: Oklahoma. Although he was born in the biggest little city in America, Reno, Nevada, he grew up learning guitar and piano in Tulsa, playing bars and DIY spaces from Norman to Stillwater. His affinity for the land that raised him is evident in the production of Transparent Towns._x000B__x000B_Abney self-produced the record, tracking most of it at Cardinal Song outside of Oklahoma City, with Michael Trepagnier handling mixing and engineering. The band was comprised mostly of Sooner State musicians too, along with Lydia Loveless and John Moreland contributing harmony vocals. His signature vulnerable voice and lyrical handiwork comes through in each of the songs, along with his penchant for alternative pop melodies set against colorful chords and subtle soundscapes._x000B__x000B_Having toured for years backing up artists like Moreland, Wild Child, Ben Kweller, and S.G. Goodman, Abney embraces a lead role again, as he presses forward with the loving lament and defiant joy throughout Transparent Towns, calling us to leave behind the pressures we place on our ourselves and recognize that just because there is an ending, it doesnt mean its the end.