ABACUS by Fear, the Man

This is ABACUS. It is a cautionary tale of a fictional war, in a fictional place, based on the very real state of the world. It tells the story of life persevering; against insurmountable odds, against oppression, against those who seek to take that which is not theirs. It is also a reminder of the power of people, the choices we make and the potential they hold. This is ABACUS. It is the story of war; and nobody wins in war.

While self-isolating during the COVID pandemic, I finally convinced myself to start a project that had been on my mind for a while: an original sea shanty concept album. It was during the global lockdown where we all witnessed the immensely positive response Nathan Evans had when his version of Wellerman took the world by storm. There is something uniquely captivating about a shanty; a form that relies on togetherness and community, even if those singing have never met before. It was a coming together of people at a very lonely time.

My songwriting was naturally taking a turn towards folk at this point. My first album, I am Fear, the Man, had an acoustic-rock sound reminiscent of the music I was raised on. But my EP Graces showed the first signs of Fear, the Man’s musical direction into the world of folk and traditional music.

The first draft of ABACUS was written that week. Then, after three years of adding, subtracting, rearranging and re-rearranging, it was finally ready (or ready enough) to be recorded. But where does one go to record a sea shanty concept album? It was clear the most important part of this next step was not necessarily finding the right place, but the right people. People that understood the project like I did, who could bring it to life. After many (many) emails and tours around recording studios, one email caught my eye: from Audiohaus studio, from a man called Will. The essence of the email was simple, ‘this is the project I’ve been waiting for’, and I knew I had found my people. After meeting for coffee and talking about shanties for four hours, the rest was history.

Both Will and I were adamant about capturing the acoustic essence of the album, with as little digital enhancement as possible. CUBE Studios in Cornwall not only provided the perfect setup for the raw sounds we were looking for, but also was thematically on point for that full shanty spirit. After gathering a team - Georgia on percussion, Sam on bass and Henry to film the whole thing - we were ready. ABACUS was truly born.

The creation of ABACUS is a story about connection, about the ‘liveness’ of music, something which we lost for too long during the pandemic. It holds true to the ideals of the shanty genre; everything recorded acoustically and live, all together in one room from start to finish.

That process is still one of my favourite things I have ever done. And now, I give ABACUS and its story to you.

Fear, the Man is a construct of folkloric imagination - through our deep earthen connections we have willed them into existence. We must be craving adventure, as Fear has got their pirate on and conceptualised the booming shanty epic known as ABACUS. An album that is fast approaching on the horizon......can you hear the drums?