Humanistic is the debut album by Abandoned Pools. It was released in September 2001 through Extasy International. Though two songs were co-written by Pete Pagonis, the album is considered a solo work of Tommy Walter's in which he used new material, as well as several songs he'd worked on beforehand in both Tely and Metromax, to compose, record, and release. The album features a contrast of dark, gloomy, and sometimes aggressive songs such as "The Remedy" and "Blood" and more serene, upbeat tracks like "Start Over" and "Sunny Day." Elements of industrial rock are evident in various ways; keyboard is used in light melody of the dark-lyric-themed "Ruin Your Life" as well as the raging chorus of "Fluorescein," and ambiguous, non-sung vocal recordings are featured in various tracks. Synth effects are also utilized in various songs. Four tracks include backing vocals by Angie Hart of Frente!. Hart's harmony style alongside Walter's somewhat androgynous voice creates a unique vocal chemistry. This album was mixed by Chris Lord-Alge and Matt Silva, and was mastered by Gavin Lurssen.
Touring and promotion
While Humanistic was released in September 2001, the majority of promotion took place from early to mid-2002; indeed, the album and its singles did not begin to chart until March 2002 and commonly peaked around May. Leah Randi and Bryan Head filled out the ranks of bassist and drummer for the album's tour support. They had several successful tours, going across the country and headlining with acts such as Garbage and Lenny Kravitz. A music video was produced for the lead single, "Mercy Kiss," and saw substantial airplay on MTV2. "The Remedy" and "Monster" were second and third video/single releases; however, the latter consisted of tour footage and was released long after the others via MTV's website. "Start Over" was also included on the National Lampoon's Van Wilder soundtrack in March 2002. The group performed "The Remedy" on the June 5, 2002 edition of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and the June 26 edition of The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn. A large number of songs off Humanistic were also featured on the MTVanimated seriesClone High which debuted in November that year, with "Start Over" being the finale song of the show. However, after the series was dropped by MTV in February 2003, Abandoned Pools stopped touring.
Reception
The album received overall high praise upon release. Jason Thompson of PopMatters compared Humanistic to Billy Corgan's solo work and noted it as much more successful. He went on to proclaim, "Humanistic is a fantastic album that could be considered a masterpiece of electro-pop... Walter has a gift for creating dense pop confections that manage to float like a feather even with all of their heaviness." Often referring to the 31-year-old as a "kid," Thom Jurek of Allmusic described Walter as a "harder-rock version of Tommy Gnosis: vulnerable, lost, and wanting desperately to put it all into terms that are rock & roll enough to make him stand out from the crowd."
"The Remedy," "Suburban Muse," "Mercy Kiss," "Monster," "L.V.B.D.," "Seed," "Fluorescein," "Start Over," "Sunny Day," & "Blood" produced by Paul Q. Kolderie & Sean Slade, co-produced by Tommy Walter "Ruin Your Life" & "Never" produced by Tommy Walter, co-produced by Paul Q. Kolderie & Sean Slade Executive Producer: Yoshiki Hayashi Mixed by Chris Lord-Alge @ Image Recording, Hollywood, CA Assisted by Matt Silva Mastered by Gavin Lurssen @ The Mastering Lab, Hollywood, CA All instruments played by Tommy Walter except: Sean Slade – Bass clarinet on "Sunny Day," piano on "Never," additional guitar on "Seed," organ on "Mercy Kiss," clavinet on "Monster" Paul Q. Kolderie – Additional guitar on "Sunny Day" & "Ruin Your Life" Josh Freese – Drums Tim Dow – Additional drums on "The Remedy" Backing vocals on: "Sunny Day," "Suburban Muse," "Ruin Your Life," & "Start Over" by Angie Hart Additional engineering on: "The Remedy," "Mercy Kiss," "Start Over," "Monster," "Suburban Muse," "Sunny Day," "L.V.B.D.," & "Ruin Your Life" by Justin Smith Programming: Tommy Walter Additional Production by David Young
