Abandoned Pools to release new album

Abandoned Pools release their long-awaited third album, Sublime Currency on August 28, 2012 via Tooth & Nail Records. Sublime Currency is the culmination of the eleven-year journey of Tommy Walter, the songwriter and musician who began the project after leaving eels. Abandoned Pools will play a rare club appearance for their CD release when they headline The Roxy in Hollywood on September 15.

Tommy Walter was bassist and co-founder of the critically acclaimed band eels, who sold well over a million copies of the debut album, Beautiful Freak. Sublime Currency is the follow up to Abandoned Pools’ 2005 release Armed to the Teeth, a disc that revealed a songwriter grappling with confusion and darkness. Now, Tommy has answered his own questions, finding solace in his faith and recent marriage.

“This record is more of a joyful record,” expands Walter. “I’m a happier person after I’ve gone through this process. I reached a low point in my life and I think my music now reveals how I overcame that. This record is about feeling like I discovered something that’s important to me.”

Prior to making the album, Tommy concentrated on producing, mixing and songwriting, working with artists, producers and bands such as Sara Bareilles, Ryan Tedder, Backstreet Boys, Better Then Ezra, Mike Simpson of The Dust Brothers, Bryce Soderberg of Lifehouse and many more.  When Abandoned Pools signed to Tooth & Nail, fans took to the Internet to proclaim their excitement for Tommy’s return.

Sublime Currency is a unified, cohesive vision from a single focused musician.  Tommy played all the instruments on the album, with the exception of the drums.

“I went back to my core of writing on my own and recording on my own because it keeps the project focused,” he explains. “I had a lot of range on the first album and I wanted to keep that going here, this range of styles. The songs come from a long span of time, but I feel like they’re all appropriate to now.”

While “Unrehearsed” showcases the more pop-oriented side of the album as a surging tune that recalls Abandoned Pools’ debut, “In Silence,” a track Tommy penned about getting married, is an immediate and engaging mellow rock number. It’s the title track, however, that culls the album together. Named from a quote by composer John Cage, the synth-laced rock track aims to share Tommy’s personal journey, offering the listener some sense of how one can emerge from the struggle in the lyrics: “I can push the buttons/I can wrestle with the phantoms/Till I see that all the best things happen naturally.”

“It all comes down to where your motivation is when you make music,” Tommy says. “It’s not about hype or trying to get someone’s attention. It’s about making music for the love of music itself.”