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Absolutely Free - 'Aftertouch' Reaction | Opinions | LIVING LIFE FEARLESS

Absolutely Free – ‘Aftertouch’ Reaction

Absolutely Free - 'Aftertouch' Reaction | Opinions | LIVING LIFE FEARLESS
4
Stars

When long-time music fans hear the name of Absolutely Free, the Toronto trio, comprised of Matt King (vocals/multi-instrumentalist), Michael Claxton(bass/synth), and Moshe Fisher-Rozenberg (drums/synth), it might light up some of their memory cells and bring up the name of Agitation Free, one of the better original Krautrock bands from back in the ’70s.

Of course, there’s that ‘absolute’ classic Frank Zappa & Mothers of Invention album of the same name.

While Absolutely Free might not exactly fit within the Krautrock genre, nor do they mimic the Zappa classic, they certainly share two traits with the German band, and Zappa ― experimentation and not standing still.

On, Aftermath, their latest offering, the trio’s motto might seem to be: We’ll stay in the realm of pop, but we’ll try to stretch it and see how far we can get.

As they put it themselves: “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.”

It all starts with the title of the album itself, referencing the name of a synthesizer function, and Absolutely Free, attempts to cover here various aspects of our current digital world. All of it is accompanied by multimedia projects created collaboratively with a number of visual, digital, and conceptual artists.

While it is not possible to recreate the whole experience solely through the album itself, the music on Aftermath is imaginative and well-developed enough to create the sound part of what the band has envisioned to present.

Building on the decades of electro-pop tradition, Absolutely Free is able to come up with some intricate electronic patterns over which they build some excellent vocal harmonies and ‘live’ instrument patterns.

It is one of those albums that keeps on uncovering new elements the more you delve into it. “Aftertouch,” indeed.

Absolutely Free - 'Aftertouch' Reaction | Opinions | LIVING LIFE FEARLESS
Absolutely Free – ‘Aftertouch’ Reaction
Conclusion
On 'Aftertouch,' Absolutely Free successfully combine experimentation with straightforward melody.
4
Stars
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