Absentee were an English alternative rock band from London, England, signed to Memphis Industries. The band members were Dan Michaelson (vocals/guitar), Melinda Bronstein (vocals, keyboards, melodica, glockenspiel), Babak Ganjei (guitar/lap steel), Laurie Earle (bass) and Jon Chandler (drums, later replaced by Che Albrighton).Fulton, Katherine "Absentee Biography", AllMusic. 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."Absentee" , DrownedInSound.com; URL accessed 20 May 2006."Full Cast and Crew for Twisted (2003/I)", IMDb; URL accessed 20 May 2006.
Later in 2010, the band contributed a song to Missed Connections, a short film which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival."Missed Connections (2010/I) - Soundtracks", IMDb
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 but a less enthusiastic review from PopMatters.Tangari, Joe (2005) "Absentee Donkey Stock, Pitchfork, 7 July 2005. Retrieved 3 January 2018Bernard, David (2005) "Absentee: Donkey Stock EP", PopMatters, 4 August 2005. Retrieved 3 January 2018 The NME 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".Jam, James (2005) "Absentee : Donkey Stock", NME, 12 September 2005. Retrieved 3 January 2018
In 2006, the band released the James Ford-produced album, Schmotime, which was well received by the music press, including a 7.1 Pitchfork rating.Hogan, Marc (2006) "Absentee Schmotime", Pitchfork, 22 August 2006. Retrieved 3 January 2018
In 2008, they released their final album, Victory Shorts. The album received a four-star review from AllMusic, 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.Sendra, Tim "Victory Shorts Review", AllMusic. Retrieved 3 January 2018"Absentee - Victory Shorts", Q, October 2008, p. 139"Absentee - Victory Shorts", Uncut, October 2008, p. 81Costa, Maddy (2008) "Rock review: Absentee, Victory Shorts", The Guardian, 19 September 2008. Retrieved 3 January 2018 NPR said of the album that it "has individual moments of greatness, but sometimes feels bipolar overall".Vallejos, Tamara (2008) "Absentee: 'Shared'", NPR, 6 November 2008. Retrieved 3 January 2018
They toured with The Magic Numbers, Brakes, Broken Family Band, Bloc Party 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", The Guardian, 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 at Crossthepond Music Interview with Absentee at SoundsXP Jelbert, Steve, "Something to bang on about", Times Online, 25 February 2006. Jelbert, Steve, "Absentee : Donkey Stock -- East London countryists' lugubrious wonder", Times Online