That said, it does seem an emerging trend that the current up-and-coming proponents of this surprisingly enduing genre – notably The Magic Numbers, Hal and Aberfeldy – increasingly are churning out sweet, cheerful material. While this in itself is no bad thing, it has got us craving something a bit darker.
Three cheers, then, for Absentee, and their debut mini-album Donkey Stock, a refreshingly downbeat affair, with overtones of the Tindersticks and Arab Strap, and which sounds nothing like the Beach Boys. That said, they surely can’t fail to win over the all-important "underweight boy/overweight girl" demographic with their subdued guitar sound, cute/weird artwork and lyrics along the lines of "A tasteless brooch and tatty knickers you sentimental old fool/I leave them on the floor and gently close the door" .
Highlight of the record for us is ‘Something to Bang’, which sounds a bit like Smog’s seminal ‘Cold-Blooded Old Times’, and is the only one of these six songs in which Absentee go anywhere near "rocking" "out". The vocals, however, remain constant, with the band linchpin Dan Michaelson mumbling lyrics such as "I’m tired of being a man, always something to bang/I’m working up a sweat, you’re bringing out the worst in me". Much like indie comrades Belle and Sebastian, the strong whiff of filth is never far away: other song titles include ‘In The Toilets Again’ and ‘Heather’s Golden Shower’.
‘My Dead Wife’, meanwhile, finds the band smoothly segueing into a moody reinterpretation of ‘You’re The One That I Want’ (the composers of which do not appear to have been credited: I think I smell a writ). The only drawback is that it sounds quite a lot like the Beautiful Fucking South’s recent version of the same song. Oh well, eh.
Apparently Absentee are currently beavering away on a full-length long-player in Hackney, which we await excitedly (the album, not Hackney). And this just in: apparently one of The Magic Numbers plays bass on all but one of the songs on Donkey Stock. These people are everywhere!
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