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QUIET LIONS

Album: ABSENTEEISM

Band : QUIET LIONS

Released: JUNE 2019

YouTube: Video

Musical style: alt-rock

The long awaited first full album from Brighton based alt-rockers Quiet

Lions, ‘Absenteeism’ is released on the 14th June on Lonely Voyage

Records.

Recorded at Brighton Electric and Small Pond Studios with Mark

Roberts (Delta Sleep, Toska), the overriding theme that threads

through Absenteeism is dissociation, with particular focus on the role

of social media and a loss of self—something that front man Michael

Williams holds close to his heart through his difficult relationship with

professional experiences away from band life.

Like their ‘No Illusions’ EP, there are strong political themes. The

album’s narrative focuses on how social media affects three different

characters: a careerist politician, a social media influencer, and people

that are emotionally vulnerable. ‘Echo Chamber’ and ‘Epitaph’—both of

which depict a monstrous demagogue—loosely touch on the influence

digital media had on the Vote Leave and Trump presidential

campaigns, with the character also reappearing in ‘Chancer’ as

someone who is willing to put personal gain ahead of everything.

The first track ‘Intro’ lulls you into a false sense of peace before ‘Echo

Chamber’ assaults the senses with that distinctive Quiet Lions sound.

It was the first single from the album and the YouTube video has

already amassed tens of thousands of views. Smoothly flowing into

‘Broken Bed Of Stone’ and on to ‘Wasteland’ , you know you are a

listening to a spectacular album from four talented musicians.

Wasteland was the second single and it’s release tied in with the Euro

Elections

‘Lighthouse’ and ‘The Youth In Question’ both lyrically revolve around

vulnerability before ‘Interlude’ gives a rare moment of reflection, then,

‘Arc Of The Horizon’ kicks in with the familiar QL full on guitar sound

and excellent harmonies. ‘Chancer’ slowly builds and builds, the lyric as

mentioned before has echoes of the Trump campaign and maybe the

current Conservative leadership battle.

‘Epitaph’ is another slow burner musically reaching a crescendo, “… just

like a bull in a china shop, we are making a mess of all we got…”, does

fit the current state of the nation, ‘Fields Of Influence’ deals with the

power of social media over the individual, as does ‘Powerless At Sea’ ,

probably our favourite track on the album bringing the album to a

close.

The whole album just works musically and lyrically, you know you will

be playing this over and over for a good while to come.