London band Absentee have built up a loyal live following in the Capital with their twee indie alt.folk, featuring the twin vocals of the fey, angelic Melinda Bronstein and the dark, brooding baritone of Dan Michaelson. The wide variety of backing instruments, including such things as glockenspiels, vibraphones and melodicas, gives a bright summery sense of novelty to some of the songs, only slightly diminished by the ‘trampish’ drawl of Michaelson. The heavier songs, such as Boy, Did She Teach You Nothing?, quicken the tempo slightly and keep the album from becoming tedious, while the slower songs, such as They Do It These Days, give the album its quirky character.
It is hard to understand why Absentee are not much bigger than they are, as they have memorable hooks and choruses far better and more accessible than a lot of the bands regularly played on the radio, as well as a large side-helping of cynicism to win over the critics. It is hard to work out whether their almost uniformly positive world view is tongue-in-cheek or not; even though the lyrics deal with heavy subjects such as heartbreak and rejection, the music and vocals try to make light of this and point to an undiminished sense of childish hope. Although not an album to listen to every day, this is a very solid collection of songs that immediately fasten themselves in your brain which, although not always good, is definitely a plus point in this case. It makes for a genuinely enjoyable album, which never really threatens to turn into anything more.
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