Track Of The Day: ‘Run For Free’ by Absent Sound

Track of the Day

Track: Run For Free

Band: Absent Sound

From the album: Hola Sol

Genre/s: Experimental Rock/ Psychedelia/ Post Rock/ Neo-Krautrock/ Dub

My track of the day is ‘Run For Free’ by Canadian band, Absent Sound, who experiment with various musical forms and genres. This track is taken from the album, ‘Hola Sol’. At the bottom of the review are links to this track/album, for Bandcamp, ITunes and Spotify.

‘Run For Free’: Starting with atmospheric guitar arpeggios, infused with a Post-Rock feel, reminiscent of Scottish band, Mogwai and English solo-artist, Gravenhurst, Absent Sound immediately set the tone of this tune. The bass and drums glide in. There’s an experimental Ambient meets Neo-Prog-Rock Bass sound, riffing on the bass sounds created by Brian Eno in his ‘Music For Films’ era or perhaps has hints of the haunting bass lines of Electronica/Indie crossover band, Reigns. The drums have a unearthly ambience to them, weaving into the unusual time-signature territory explored by Slint and Nub. The drums are sombre, fleshing out the mood with a spacious, yet foreboding timbre. Hauntingly ethereal vocals drift in over the music, with perhaps a hint of introspection, harking back to the Seattle Grunge movement, evoking the spirit of Alice in Chains singer, Layne Staley in his more reflective moments. The sustaining nature of the vocals, like the instrumentation, serve to further expand a brooding soundscape. Vocal harmonies that pulse in and out add to the sophistication of the tune. ‘Run For Free’ follows the expectations of any well-crafted song; that is, within what I call the ‘magic minute’ (the important first minute of the tune) where most of the ideas present in the track are imparted to the listener. If not done properly, a listeners attention is lost. However, what Absent Sound are proficient at is continuing those ideas in a very naturalistic way, so the listener isn’t necessarily focusing on the reality that ‘Run For Free’ is just over 8 minutes long. A breakdown and guitar solo comes in around the halfway point. A plucked, sinister-sounding lead-line subverts the expectation of a more traditional guitar solo. The guitars ease into warmer arpeggios, sounding not unlike Thrash Metal band Metallica’s flurries into a more acoustic-based restrained sound. As drums become more prominent and the vocals become more Sprechstimme (Spoken word to imply singing), the listener may think of Scottish Alternative Rock band, Arab Strap and their use of in the fore drums/beats and spoken word vocals. In this part of ‘Run For Free’, the ‘Run for your life’ lyrical motif not only adds to the already established mood, but conveys a much more creepier edge to the song. The near-disembodied backing vocal phrase ‘run’ is simple, yet for me is conveyed in such an effective manner, that it feels as memorable as a catchy pop-hook. The guitar snarl and wubber as the vocals intensify, leading to an explosively jangly-distortion over an already powerful and well-crafted tune; a technique utilised by one time guitarist of Alternative Rock band, Red House Painters, Gorden Mack. The drums and bass pound, the guitars crack and growl. It’s a fitting end to this alluringly hypnotic tune.

🎧Listen to ‘Run For Free’ by Absent Sound on:

🎼Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/7d5UEUExAtnxOwcSwozmpH?si=cd2233f729204858

🎼ITunes: https://music.apple.com/gb/album/run-for-free/1478566399?i=1478566405

🎼Bandcamp: https://absentsound.bandcamp.com/track/run-for-free

🎼YouTube: https://youtu.be/jpgc1aX1B28

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Track of the Day