Absentee - 'Donkey Stock' (Memphis Industries) Released 11/07/05

 

Absentee play some of the most convincing Americana to come out of London since - well, forever. The comical obsession with donkeys, the harmonica, the slide guitar - it all smacks of bluegrass, beards and checkered shirts. Singer Dan Michaelson packs a rich, treacly slur that sounds like Nick Cave after a gallon of Jim Beam, and accented by the subtle murmur of Melinda Bronstein it has the power to smother whole counties in a delirious langour.

The mini-album (or, as I like to call it, 'EP') opens with the sepia-tinted 'Rainy Days Swimming', a lazy dreamscape that lays Absentee's cards out on the table: they're here to chill out. 'Something To Bang' then shatters this peaceful mood like a sudden panic attack, colossal lead guitar bends over a rock 'n roll rhythm with Michaelson again spilling his words like Ollie Reed's pint. 'My Dead Wife' introduces sparkling guitar picking shattered by the occasional reverbrating chord, climaxing with an earnest, lo-fi rendition of the chorus from 'You're The One That I Want' - a metamorphosis just as epic as Olivia Newton-John's good-girl-goes-bad turn, and far more believable.

There's a lighthearted, conversational tone to Absentee that's a million miles removed from the sombre introspection of Smog or the heartbreaking wail of existential pain that is My Morning Jacket. 'Donkey Stock' evidently rubs musical shoulders with these and other ambassadors of alt.country and lo-fi, but it's not out to depress (or, in the case of MMJ, terrify). It's a little gem suited to lazy evenings on the porch, kicking back with a beer, shooting the breeze - whatever you want to call it when there's nothing to do, and that's just the way you like it.