There is a reason why there will always be a need for four track EP’s in music. It’s all very nice listening to fifteen seconds of a band’s Myspace and making a snap decision about whether you like them or not. And we’re all guilty of making a judgement on a band based on one single. But if you give a band more than a track, sometimes it’ll pay off.
Had I been giving Absentee a brief listen on their Myspace, I would have been deterred heavily by the twee indie undertones of the title track. I would have moved onto another page by the end of the first minute, which is about the time when the chorus starts to get interesting, and when I reached a turning point with Dan Michaelson’s vocals. To that point, I thought they sounded needlessly gruff, but towards the end of this song (an unremarkable indie number with a better than average chorus, and enough going on to put them above you average indie standards), I’m warming to this cross between Barry White and Tom Waits.
The EP gives you more time to get an idea of what they’re about. They fall somewhere between indie and art-rock (would credible indie be a good compromise?). ‘I’m Your Man’ is moody and bluesy, and the song where I started to actively enjoy Abesentee. This is consolidated by a drunken Frankie Valli cover ‘My Eyes Adored You,’ which sounds like Malcolm Middleton born out in West Texas. ‘That Old Ghost’ is a complete song that perhaps demonstrates the band at full pelt – it’s more orchestral and Melinda Bronstein’s duet with Michaelson conjures up a blues Beauty and the Beast effect. They never step above mid-tempo on the vocals, but there is enough going on musically to make these songs resonate.
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An EP I’m glad I took the time out to investigate. Nice to know that you can still reap the rewards of perseverance in these times of instant gratification.
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