Absence (Snowman album)

Absence
Studio album by Snowman
Released	3 June 2011
Recorded	Various Locations, London
Genre	Alternative rock
Length	40:55
Label	Dot Dash Recordings
Producer	Aaron Cupples and Snowman
Snowman chronology
The Horse, The Rat and The Swan (2008) Absence (2011)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Faster Louder	(9/10)[1]
One Thirty BPM	84%[2]
Pitchfork Media	(8/10)[3]

Absence is the third and final album for Australian band, Snowman. It was released on 3 June 2011 via Dot Dash Recordings. It was produced by Snowman and Aaron Cupples (The Drones, Dan Kelly, Paul Kelly) at various locations around London. Upon the release of the album, Snowman announced their split.

About the creative process behind the album, Joe McKee stated:

I collected these postcards not with any intention to make a record around them, but [because] essentially there was something about them that I wanted to achieve musically ... that I wanted to create musically. They were soothing, and there was something that I just liked looking at. They gave me some kind of security, even though they're quite cold. A lot of them are without people in them and there's almost like a removal of something. That's what this whole thing comes from. It's about a dislocation of yourself from a place, the dislocation of the focal point from a picture, or the focal sound from a song. It was about the removal of these things and creating a kind of audio environment for what I would imagine these pictures would sound like. That was texturally and sound-wise what we were aiming to do. That's where some of those ideas were born from, and by the time I got back to London we found a place in Walthamstow and we were all living together.

When I looked at these photos, all of them had this element that I couldn't put my finger on. I couldn't say, "That's an angry one. That's making me feel 'romantic'. That's amorous" It had this absence of something, while not knowing quite what that was, and accepting it. We tried to communicate that same feeling musically.

— Joe McKee^[4]

Track listing

All the words and music were written by Snowman.^[5]

1. "Snakes & Ladders" – 3:58
2. "Hyena" – 3:14
3. "White Wall" – 4:10
4. "Séance" – 5:00
5. "∆ (A)" – 6:08
6. "Memory Lost" – 5:27
7. "A Vanishing Act" – 6:08
8. "Absence" – 6:30

References

1. Absence review fasterlouder.com.au. 2011-06-23. Retrieved on 2011-08-03.
2. Ryan, Will. Absence review onethirtybpm.com. Retrieved on 2011-08-03.
3. Tangari, Joe. Absence review pitchfork.com. 2011-05-03. Retrieved on 2011-08-03.
4. Kretowitz, Steph. "Online exclusive:Snowman". The Quietus magazine. Retrieved 2011-05-05.
5. APRA database at the Australasian Performing Right Association website (search each song title)