“Big sound under bigger skies Help me Obiwan: The Absent Sound produce a visual cacophony. Winnipeg's The Absent Sound want to air out New York City. Maybe it's simply the setting - a stone's throw from the lush sprawl of pristine wilderness that extends in all directions for what seems like an eternity. Or perhaps it's all a matter of perception, an underdog mentality, borne of exclusion from the media-machine hype reserved for the big three music scenes: Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal. Whatever the reason, musicians from Winnipeg tend to think big, and few think much bigger than The Absent Sound, a band whose epic sonic improvisational splendour is matched only by ambition. In July, The Absent Sound plan on moving to New York to "try and influence as many people as possible." But at the centre of it all is the music, and "big" is too small a word to describe it. ”

“The Absent Sound - Gathering of the Clan Mothers Self-Released Score: 7.5/10 Infinite skies. Bottomless oceans. Ageless, bullying mountains. The basic building blocks of nature-- showing their prettiest side-- have always somehow entangled themselves with instrumental and post-rock music. The evocation of nature seems to come prepackaged with muddled tremolos and soaring buildups that smack up sound-scapes with precision and often more than not, sheer force. But why nature? Perhaps it’s as simple as the organic quality of the genre, or the fact that such potent tunes parallel with the formidable strength of Mother Nature and her offspring frighteningly well. Or, maybe it’s just the fact that wordless songs need something else to be matched with, without the bulk of lyrics weighing them down. Regardless, Winnipeg’s The Absent Sound, taking an interesting approach to their instrumental project through traditional post-rock and ambient methods, more at website..”

“Damo Suzuki at ElementSircus Former Can member Damo Suzuki joined A-Sound for the resultant two-hour jam that was not without flaws but engagingly over-the-top and correspondingly repulsive and unrefined in a fabulously entertaining way. The Absent Sound plodded along as a word-possessed Suzuki rapid-fired a type of half-sung/half-spoken rappin' scat, channeled through the bellowing spirit of Howlin' Wolf - only there was nothing bluesy or perhaps even understood about it. Just when the audience thought the initial half-hour volley was done, the original ploddy tempo shifted amidst applause and Suzuki was off again - whizzing out lines of verbiage unlike anything any ElementSircus attendee had ever seen. The gig was a sonic masterpiece and a successful collaboration of what I hope will be many great solstice celebrations to come. ”

“Now Like Photographs Radio K Absent Sound Gathering of the Clan Mothers 2-P... Absent Sound Gathering of the Clan Mothers 2-Ply Collective nowlikephotographs Radio K, Minneapolis, MN, USA Jan. 20th/ 2008 Not officially released until March 1st, we got our hands on an advance copy of this Canadian outfit's newest disc to get you excited for a very epic instrumental 2008. Listening to their string-laden atmospherics, juggling both neo-classical and post-rock aesthetics, finding out that they're most notorious for their collaborations with art installations comes to no surprise. Often including everything from film projection to contemporary dancers, this is the definition of sprawling instrumental art rock. Get cultured with a track in our weekly nowlikephotographs podcast. ”