Axxa/Abraxas - Axxa/Abraxas

The latest addition to Brooklyn super-label Captured Tracks is 23-year-old Atlanta native Ben Asbury and his Axxa/Abraxas project. With his self-titled debut, he mines already well-covered terrain, but does it exceedingly well - mixing the indie pop sensibilities of label mate Wild Nothing with the melodic folk of Woods, and White Fence’s psychedelia infused garage rock.

Over ten tracks, in just over forty minutes, Asbury manages to rush through the past fifty years of American music history, taking cues from 60s pop, folk rock, post-punk and 90s indie, often without missing a beat. What he lacks in originality he easily makes up for in pure songwriting chops - lead single ’I Almost Fell’ is one of the clear highlights of the album, showcasing Asbury’s talent for mixing pop and folk with his own slightly twisted sense of melody and production, enhancing the track with delicate synth backing.

’Painted Blue’ is a high-riding piece of focused seventies Neil Young filtered through a lo-fi lense, ’Beyond the Wind’ showcases Asbury’s folkier side while closer ’All That’s Passed’ marries the best of both with a light Byrdsian melody. On their own each track on ’Axxa/Abraxas’ stands tall but together they also highlight just how much Asbury’s songwriting owes to his peers. In the end that hardly matters though, as Asbury writes and performs with a simple and disarming sense of honesty and joy that makes ’Axxa/Abraxas’ such a pleasure. An accomplished debut but surely only the mere beginnings of a promising career.