After lulling myself to sleep with Fall Out Boy’s latest track, I dreamed of a world where records and musicians rediscovered themselves. I woke up to read Gerard Way’s statement, my shoulders slumping; the only musicians I really considered artists had disbanded. A few clicks and scrolls later, I peeked into my inbox and came across the cacophonous melodies of Absinthe Junk.
Death in the Afternoon is a jarring title – at least to my own personal emotions. On the contrary, there has been a birth this morning. Upon listening to “White Nights,” I couldn’t really divulge an opinion simply because the track merely offered a glimpse to what the musicians in Absinthe Junk are capable of concocting.
Each individual song on Death in the Afternoon includes its own trademark. In “Devilish Grin,” Blair Smart’s vocals exceed expectation when she wails to the listener to “save your soul.” In “Hysterical Claim,” the vocal harmonies are ever present and highly gratifying to the melodious ear, while “Sunday Morning Breakfast Static” distorts the mind with the presence of dissonance. But perhaps my favorite on the record is the final track, “Oneiromancy,” because of its incorporation of placid piano and spoken poetry.
Because of its uniqueness, I’d hate to compare it to every day sounds –to birds, to other bands I’ve heard – and instead dare you to take the plunge into the unknown. If you’re anything like myself, a listener on a desperate excursion to locate the artistry in music, then you’ll appreciate the inventiveness of Absinthe Junk.
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