Abdomen – Yes, I Don’t Know Review

Power is the root of anything brilliant on Yes, I Don’t Know. The second album from the garage punk band has them roar through at a frantic tempo. But to build to these moments of instrumental abandon, to wail away as Abdomen so often does, a strong foundation is necessary. They find just that on Yes, I Don’t Know, a thrilling, punchy second effort from the Netherlands-based trio. For the instrumental wreckage to persevere, to sound as blisteringly intense as it so often does for Abdomen, it needs to hook itself on positivity. In the raging storm is a comfortable spot, an optimistic flourish which becomes a sincerely shocking part of the album. Yes, I Don’t Know has its head in the clouds but its feet on the ground, a chance to live among the dreamers and yet tether themselves to the real world. This connection makes all the difference.  

From the promise that life is better now on opener Damage Tool to the considered strengths and volatility of Numbers, Abdomen settles in rather well. Short and punchy abandon is the frequent power Abdomen has, though they would do well to find some route through to the start of their songs than the similar electrified wails which are at work here. What works so well, though, is the recklessness. This fine line between articulate storytelling and complete desolation is walked all too cleanly by many bands. Abdomen sounds like a band with abandon on their mind. Yes, I Don’t Know benefits from the genuine nature of the trio, the menacing sound Dazed creates is a real highlight. It is the instrumental quality which stands out most of all, more and more it sounds like a derailed jam session turned ambitiously violent commentary. Ambition meets excitement and for the most par,t the heavy, garage-grunge blur is a real treat. Weird Shapes is as thorough as this sound gets – a real treat for the modern-day counterculture sound.  

Tones of death and inward reflections dominate Yes, I Don’t Know. There is a sense of coming apart at the seams, keeping yourself together with the thrills and spills of life. Louder and louder they get, conscious acts winning over the distortion, the manipulation, made by your own mind. Yes, I Don’t Know uses this as a pool of possibilities and rises to the instrumental occasion. Thankfully so, it is what their focus is on for much of this second album. Some soft brushes with hardcore can be heard on the title track and from there the exciting and menacing Abdomen sound flourishes. Where the lyrics may be tame, simple rhyming structures prevail more than anything, and the instrumental spirit more than makes up for it.  

A punk urgency, a sinister tension roaring through those crunchy numbers, is more than enough to keep Yes, I Don’t Know, alive. Much of the album is a charmer, even with those lyrical shortcomings to contend with. There is enough vibrancy, a chilling dedication to the image painted by the trio, that it works well. Yes, I Don’t Know is confident in its abilities and, more often than not, their feel for the cultural tone and call on the times is well-placed. Exhale is a later album song which stands tall. That thud replacing a beating heart with a wilder source of percussion is phenomenal work. Consistency is crucial to a project like this, and they find an abundance of this in their instrumental efforts. Yes, I Don’t Know may be a loosely written piece, but its scope, its defiance, is enough.