Whereas most bands seem welded to a very specific time, whether that time be now or their favourite bit of the past, Toronto psych-pop group Absolutely Free seem to be floating somewhere altogether different.
There’s an element of the luxurious, expensive polish of Trevor Horn’s 80s productions about it, that’s for certain. But at the same time there are signs of the post-rave comedown tunes – see the softly edged songs of Air for further reference – of the decade that followed it. Oh, and then there’s the group’s evident love of a much more 70s styled quirky time signature. An occasional but regular throwing of a spanner in the rhythmical works that means even though you’re being swaddled in clouds of endorphin-like dreaminess, you can never get too comfortable.
Indeed, the band themselves say: “We have always tried to pull threads from popular music and weave them together into complex patterns. We hope this means that a casual listener can enjoy a catchy phrase, while a deeper listen reveals stranger structures and narratives lying beneath.”
Directed by Rachelle Walker, this promo for ‘Epilogue (After Touch)’ is an equally disorientating affair, all in a subtle, understated way you understand. Memories of the past – rollercoaster rides, fluttering butterflies – end up burning up and disintegrating, until before we know it we’re floating in eternal space like the molecules we’re destined to return to being when we finally go.
It’s no one off either – the band’s debut album Aftertouch, out on Friday (September 24) is chock full of similarly intriguing, beguiling twisted pop beauty destined to get you thinking as well as leaving you with an imprint of sweet, sweet melody.