Mostly I Just Like The Name, But The Music’s Not Too Bad Either
The music of Oakland, California based Absinthe Father seems to span a few different genre influences, but to describe it best would be both brooding and dazed, but in a good way.
I really do enjoy a band name that’s a, I guess kind of, clever play on words, so I’m already going to go into listening to them providing the benefit of the doubt. But the music is actually full of some surprises when you get to the end of the band’s 2022 full length release moving forward. The tracks at the beginning of the LP are hazy, ethereal, mostly acoustic and a bit stripped back (but not lacking in good quality production). Soft, flat vocals provide at sometimes an eerie, but often emotional feeling melodies.
The deeper you listen, the more surprises come along. The songwriting demonstrates a variety of influences, hearing country and folk aspects in songs like “marie” (slide guitar trigger warning), and a deeper mix in more a pop-sounding style from a song like “buried.” The last track on the album, released independently in October of last year, the aptly named “ender” throws all that out and goes straight into the emo/pop-punk genre that lies just underneath the surface of many of the albums tracks.
Perhaps the self-description of “alternative pop country shoegaze” is most appropriate.
Absinthe Father will be playing with Crywank at Three Links in Dallas, TX on April 20th.