A whisky-soaked alt country rock/power pop outfit from East London
really could go either way, but in the case of Absentee, they cut it -
they really could be from outback Nebraska. Something To Bang is a
chuggy chunk of fuzzy guitars, parping horns and a lilting hammond
organ.
"I'm tired of being a man, there's always something to
bang/working up a sweat, you bring out the worst in me," singer Dan
cheerfully complains in bass tones so gravelly as to bring a new
enhanced meaning to the word 'gruff'.
There's a sly humour in the lyrics which would raise an ironic grin
to even the hardest drinking, saddlesore rancher's lips. B-side You Try
Sober is a classic country jaunt about the miseries of sobriety. It's
how the Magic Numbers might sound if singer Romeo smoked 200 fags a day
for a year and slowed his vocals down to half-speed; it's just as good
as the track it accompanies, and if they can afford to have a song this
good on a B-side, Absentee really must have something special.
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