Absentee were an English

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

band from

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, England, signed to Memphis Industries. The band members were Dan Michaelson (vocals/guitar), Melinda Bronstein (vocals, keyboards,

melodica The melodica is a handheld free-reed instrument similar to a pump organ or harmonica. It features a musical keyboard on top, and is played by blowing air through a mouthpiece that fits into a hole in the side of the instrument. The keyboard usu ...

glockenspiel The glockenspiel ( ; or , : bells and : play) or bells is a percussion instrument consisting of pitched aluminum or steel bars arranged in a Musical keyboard, keyboard layout. This makes the glockenspiel a type of metallophone, similar to the v ...

), Babak Ganjei (guitar/lap steel), Laurie Earle (bass) and Jon Chandler (drums, later replaced by Che Albrighton).Fulton, Katherine
Absentee Biography
,

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

. Retrieved 3 January 2018

Career

Before forming the band, Michaelson and Bronstein collaborated to make the self-produced mini-album ''Hawaiian Disco''. Five songs from that mini-album, and other unreleased material was used in the 2003 film ''Twisted'', shown in the

Raindance Film Festival Raindance is an independent film festival and film school that operates in major cities including London, Los Angeles, New York, Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Budapest, Berlin, and Brussels. The festival was established in 1992 by Elliot Grove ...

. Later in 2010, the band contributed a song to ''Missed Connections'', a short film which premiered at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...

. The band have had two previous major releases. ''Donkey Stock'' in 2005 was a six track EP, which received a 6.8 rating from

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

but a less enthusiastic review from

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, ...

. The ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'' called it a "lugubrious wonder", with James Jam considering "Michaelson’s grumbled, world-weary mumble...the most wondrous sound to trickle out of a human being’s voicebox all year". In 2006, the band released the James Ford-produced

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

, '' Schmotime'', which was well received by the music press, including a 7.1 Pitchfork rating. In 2008, they released their final album, ''Victory Shorts''. The album received a four-star review from

, with Tim Sendra describing it as "an assured, confident, and quite often brilliant album...a triumph of wit, emotion, and scarred beauty that is sure to rank with the best albums of 2008", also receiving positive reviews from '' Q'', '' Uncut'', and ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

''. NPR said of the album that it "has individual moments of greatness, but sometimes feels bipolar overall". They toured with The Magic Numbers, Brakes, Broken Family Band,

Bloc Party Bloc Party are an English Rock music, rock band that was formed in London, England, London in 1999 by co-founders Kele Okereke (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, piano, sampler) and Russell Lissack (lead guitar). Their first four albums all featur ...

and Silver Jews. When not recording and touring with Absentee, all the band members had side projects, Michaelson with Dan Michaelson and The Coastguards, Ganjei, Bronstein and Earle with Wet Paint, and Bronstein with The Bronsteins. In 2011, Michaelson released his debut solo album, ''Sudden Fiction''.Nicholson, Rebecca (2011)
Dan Michaelson: Sudden Fiction – review
, ''

'', 3 November 2011. Retrieved 3 January 2018

Discography

Singles

* 2006 "Something to Bang" #180 UK * 2006 "Weasel" * 2006 "We Should Never Have Children" * 2006 "There's A Body In A Car Somewhere" * 2008 "Boy, Did She Teach You Nothing?"

EPs

* 2005 ''Donkey Stock'' * 2008 ''Bitchstealer EP''

Albums

* 2004 ''Hawaiian Disco'' * 2006 ''Schmotime'' * 2008 ''Victory Shorts''

References

External links

Absentee at memphis-industries.com

Absentee
a
Crossthepond Music

Interview with Absentee at SoundsXP
* Jelbert, Steve

Times Online ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fo ...

, 25 February 2006. * Jelbert, Steve
"Absentee : Donkey Stock -- East London countryists' lugubrious wonder"

{{DEFAULTSORT:Absentee English alternative rock groups Memphis Industries artists