The Beat Surrender

Absentee have been building a reputation for themselves with a series of live shows recently supporting The Magic Numbers, The Go! Team, Starsailor, Ed Harcourt and Joanna Newsome.

No real surprise that they landed the coveted Magic Numbers support slot being as Romeo from the band plays bass on four of the tracks on the six track Donkey Stock mini album.

The first thing that hits you when you listen to Absentee is the vocalist, Dan Michaelson has an incredibly distinctive voice, reminiscent to me of Stuart Staples from the Tindersticks. It has that croaky, acheing longing in his voice, the sort of vocal that when performed live has the hairs on the back of your neck standing up.

That’s certainly the case on opener Rainy Days Swimming, even on a more upbeat track like Something To Bang, it’s still the vocal that commands centre of attention. My Dead Wife is utter genious, the moody soundtrack style opening gives way to his distinctive drawl….and then it happens.

Yes three and a half minutes in as the song is drawing to a close it suddenly metamorphises into You’re The One That I Want, if only the Grease soundtrack had been recorded by Absentee I may look upon it in a much fonder light. Things just get better though, In The Toilets Again is the funniest sexual story i’ve heard in a song since the lamented days of Jarvis Cocker stalking a stage.

To close with you have the beautiful simplicity of On The Hallway and the superbly titled Heather’s Golden Shoulder. Fantastic stuff, shame it’s only six tracks and not a full length album, but hopefully they won’t keep us waiting too long for that with any luck.

Donley Stock is released on the 4th July.