Writing and Recording
Like all of the band's projects, the album takes several of its themes from b-movies and horror films. Horror films had always been a substantial influence on the band; bassist Jonah Bergman's father had taken him to double features as a kid. Donnelly had admired horror actor Vincent Price and wished to present vintage horror aesthetic into the project. Brian K. Vaughan's dystopian comic book Y: The Last Man served as inspired for the song "Cemetery Girls". Bergman was credited for writing the hook on "The Plastic Surgery Hall of Fame".
The album contains elements of concept albums, with the album taking place during the apocalypse. Donnelly had stated that the album is what would happen to a couple's relationship during the end of the world. The narrative of the album centers around the premise of every single male in the entire world suddenly dropping dead, and what would happen if all males spontaneously died for no apparent reason. In an interview with Sentimentalist Magazine, Donnelly went into detail about the composition of the album, stating
"We’ve literally written about horror movies, like straight from the screen kind of thing, but this one is about horrific human beings and human nature, and the dark side of things, and there’s still a lot of beautiful ways to sort of twist that and write about that. And "Cemetery Girls," is about all of the men just dying, for no apparent reason, and these women are rising up and taking over the world, and it’s sort of the mixture of emotion that comes with things ending. Particularly this apocalyptic setting where there’s a lot of death, but also strength that rises from it."
While the album goes over fictional themes, Donnelly noted that the album still contained real-world social commentary. Donnelly mused, "when you look at the news, it’s really easy to get sucked into this mentality of is the world coming to an end?" and assured that she still wanted the album to be something you could dance to. To prevent the album from being to depressing, the band attempted to present the album with the aesthetic of a b-movie, with a comical, overly theatrical tone. Bergman stated that while the album goes go over dark topics and contains graphic imagery, the band wanted to offer the listeners something positive in nature. He warned people not to look to deep into the music and stated that the band was a way for the members to vent.
Abominations was recorded in 18 days, which Donnelly described as the most "delightful, pleasurable recording experience", commenting that she was saddened when the band had run out of material to record. The band spent their loose time watching episodes of classic horror series like The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits.
Read more about this topic: Abominations (album)
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