This one's very tough to really get a handle on, much less 'review'. The whole album is really remarkable, but I don't think it's for everyone. Someone here (can't remember who) has in his sig a quote saying "I like beautiful melodies saying terrible things." Well that pretty well sums up In Absentia. The vocals and melodies are hauntingly beautiful, to fall back on a shopworn cliche, but the songs are very bleak and dark. If I had to evoke the feel, imagine God Lives Underwater fronted by Beck...that's close, but not quite it. The songs all deal with themes of isolation, disaffection, suicide, homicide and emptiness. I really love the way the cheeriest sounding songs are the most sinister lyrically.
Something in this album recalls Sigur Ros- not so much the sound but the mood: I get the same feeling from this music as their wordless voice/tone painting. There's an icey distance to some of the songs that's stark and effective. The songs are unlike most anything I've ever heard. There are some hooks, to be sure, and like those little chewable vitamins you give your kiddies, you can ingest this easily without knowing your getting something "good for you," but if you delve into this one it has many rewards.
Sonically it's a wonder, at least IMOHO. The one true flaw is a lack of much real bass- that aside, the surround mix is very creatively done, mostly very subtle with effects used to create tension and discomfort, or perhaps to invoke paranoi. Whatever the intent, the mix is absorbing and you can just get lost for an hour in a very strange sound world.
You can't knock the value- there's the dozen songs originally on the disc plus 3 bonus songs and a few videos. Haven't watched the videos yet.
Maybe someone that's more familiar with the genre could describe the music better than I. Hell, maybe someone can tell what damn genre they are. To paraphrase the joker, "I don't know if it's art, but I like it." I really do. A really good deal for $15 bucks.
