Singer-songwriter Abby K unveils her brand-new single/music video, “Rectangular Box,” a song about reconnecting with people in the physical realm, after two years of connecting via Zoom.
“Rectangular Box” provides an appetizer for Abby K’s forthcoming album, Where We’re At, which delves into the spaces in-between beginnings and endings, the area of life that’s in progress and without bookends.
Written in collaboration with her husband, Brian Marcus, and recorded at Seattle’s London Bridge Studios with producer Jonathan Plum, Where We’re At is a charming and thought-provoking mix of splendid folk-pop that touches upon the reality of what it means to be “getting by” together during a time of great uncertainty.
Talking about Where We’re At, Abby K says the album allows her to express herself “as the person I am without shame or concern of what a listener might think, to stand up against wrong and write about issues that really mattered on a larger global scale.”
Along with a series of singles, Abby K’s previous albums include her debut album, Bare Your Soul, followed by 2016’s Heart Shaped Rock, and 2019’s The Whole Truth, a cathartic body of work conveying her intimate perspective on the world at large.
“Rectangular Box” opens on Americana-flavored tones riding a lightly thumping kick drum, and then ramps up to a contagious, upbeat folk-pop rhythm composed of finessed percussion and a fat, rolling bassline. Abby K’s delicious country drawl-infused voice gives the lyrics a warm, buoyant flow. High and rich, it’s a voice at once alluring and satisfyingly evocative.
The video depicts Abby K wearing pajamas and a robe in her delightfully messy family room with her guitar and her dogs. Entering another room, she opens her laptop and talks to new and old friends via Zoom. Many of her friends are musicians, so they demo new tunes and play together, even though they are separated.
Once free from isolation, Abby K joins people in the local park, conversing and playing her guitar, singing seated atop a picnic table.
Simultaneously true-to-life and charismatic, “Rectangular Box” relates the very real difference between connecting remotely and in person.