Psych-rock duo Abraxas is back with an absolutely groovy new single and video with the release of “Sunrise State (Of Mind),” the lead single from their upcoming debut album Monte Carlo out October 28 via Suicide Squeeze. Comprised of Carolina Faruolo (ex-Los Bitchos) and Danny Lee Blackwell (Night Beats), the band’s latest courses with a slick cumbia sound delivered via singed guitars and throbbing percussion rhythms. But of course, the song is not with Abraxas’ own signature cosmic expansions, with every note and hazy wail emptying itself into the abyss from which emanates such hauntingly groovy tones.
The music video for “Sunshine State (Of Mind),” created by Horacio Bolz and Edward Heredia, compliments what the band calls the song’s “feeling of weightless-ness and interplanetary discovery.” In the video warm-toned video Faruolo and Blackwell sing, dance, tear it up on guitar, and shake maracas against increasingly funky backdrops of splendid color and glossy haze. The entire thing is psychedelically sublime and if it doesn’t make you an instant fan of Abraxas’ musical and visual wonderland then I don’t know what will.
The Uruguayan-born Manchester-based Faruolo first linked up with the Texas-based Blackwell during quarantine in 2020. In their isolation, they started sending samples to each other back and forth and eventually built around themselves an escape into the radiant Latin rhythms and vistas of their ever-evolving soundscapes.
“I remember the feeling I got the first time Danny added vocals to one of my tracks,” Faruolo recalled. “I was sitting on my sofa in rainy Manchester in the middle of winter. I pressed play and the song just made my heart jump. It instantly felt special and, more importantly, it felt like a perfect portrait of both of us.”
It’s that kind of sonic world-building that takes place on the band’s debut Monte Carlo and makes the music of Abraxas so implicitly otherworldly.
Watch the video for Abraxas’ new single “Sunrise State (Of Mind)” below!
Abraxas’ debut album Monte Carlo is out October 28, pre-order it here. Visit Abraxas’ Bandcamp, Twitter, and Instagram to stay updated on new releases and tour announcements.
Words by Steven Ward
