Absentee

Ask the lucky few how Absentee initially grabbed their attention and they’ll tell you accordingly: ‘that voice’. Because before any of the four other Absentees can reel you in with a hook or two, Dan Michaelson’s wonderfully inimitable vocals have already done the job. “There’s not a whole lot you can do with this voice” Dan says of his Kurt Wagner/ Stuart Staples-esque delivery, “I find it quite funny when people tell me they love the way I don’t try too hard with my vocals but that’s what happens when you get lumbered with a voice like this. There’s no vocal gymnastics here.”

Dan may feel vocally limited at times, but he cannot say the same about the London five-piece he spearheads. Effortlessly capturing both the relaxed tones of Lambchop and the poppier inclinations of label mates Field Music, Absentee possess an instant sophistication that belies their infancy on record. Both aspects are acknowledged by Dan as an integral part of writing great pop music. “I find pop music so offensive and lyrics so impermanent that we want to get to the point where we can write really great pop songs with permanence. The next single- We Should Never Have Children- is the best example of a good pop song that can also carry weight.”

If all this great pop music talk sets Magic Numbers bells ringing, then it’s of little surprise that both bands have been friends for years. “Actually Romeo (Stodart) was our original bassist. Initially it was me and Melinda (Bronstein, keyboards). We were in another band and once I started writing I got her to do some vocals really liked the way our voices worked together. We just found some other band members. We’d known Romeo from the Magic Numbers for a few years and I happened to mention to him on the phone that we needed a bass player and he said he’d love to do it for us. We went on like that and then the Numbers started to do quite well so we got Laurie in to replace him.”

One constant throughout has been the support of Memphis Industries. Home to Field Music, The Go Team and Dungen, it’s quite a pleasant place to call home. In this case both label and artist clearly complement each other. “Jon (Chandler, drums) had known them from playing with Blue States so we just went in for some advice, not thinking of getting a deal. But they’re amazing guys with just the right attitude. We’re not kids and we don’t need people gushing at us. They’re grumpy and realistic just like us. I think they’ll really come into their own this year.”

While the first Absentee incarnation produced Donkey Stock, a six track mini album released last year. The second, more settled line up has produced its full length follow up in time for the first week of the summer. If live tracks like Weasel are anything to go by, the interestingly titled Schmotime could be an album that indeed allows Memphis Industries to come into their own. “The new album is quite different to Donkey Stock and is a culmination of a year and a half of song writing. When we recorded Donkey Stock it was six months after the band started and we only started when I first began writing songs. So I was hearing what we were doing for the first time as it was being recorded. This time around we knew what we were doing a little more. The album is a little less meandering and a bit more focused. It’s just a different album. It’s much more of a band album and broader in terms of reference points where Donkey Stock was more just me.”

Ahead of a stint supporting King Creosote, Absentee have themselves been receiving support from all the right places. Gaining Zane Lowe’s ‘Fresh Meat’ seal of approval, single ‘Something To Bang’ has been easing its way onto the airwaves. “It’s been really encouraging. On his Radio 2 show Jonathan Ross has played us in between Scott Walker and The Kinks which is quite a comfortable place to be in.” It could be company that Absentee have to get used to.