Ears Wide Open: The Absurd

Kevin Bronson on November 25th, 2016

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The Absurd combine the talents of Michigan natives Ben Foerg and Josh Loney, who along with drummer Colin Jensen find inspiration in the bleak but aggressive post-grunge alternative rock of the ’90s. “The Motherless Child” EP, their third release since late 2015, is their first proper studio recording and indeed does include as its closer a slow-marching version of the oft-covered traditional. The EP leads off with the big, rolling rhythms of “1XON3” and “Steppënmellon,” both as muscular and riffy as they are dire. With every other subspecies of guitar rock since the 1960s in full revival mode, the Absurd try valiantly to transcend mere homage to the ’90s Great Groaners, but as Foerg laments in “Steppënmellon,” “What has been will be again / There’s nothin’ new under the sun,”

||| Stream: “1X0N3” and “Steppënmellon”