I remember the first time that I heard Television's Marquee Moon. Their angular, clean, and intricate guitar-driven blend of punk, art-rock, and jazz-informed improvisation along with their nervous kind of energy was a bit mind blowing. Sunday Mourners debut album, A-Rhythm Absolute, feels born from the spirit of Television's album.
On A-Rhythm Absolute, Sunday Mourners keep everything lean and dry. The guitars carry that clean, angular strain and tension that points to Television, while the writing has some of Lou Reed’s plainspoken distance, direct, watchful, and a little worn at the edges. The band recorded the album to tape at Jazzcats Studio in Long Beach, and that choice comes through in the sound. It sounds vintage with nothing pushed too far forward and nothing smoothed out. And even at its most expansive moments, the album stays spare, letting repetition, tone, and small shifts in momentum carry the songs. This is no more the case than with the album's centerpiece "Darling" which stretches past 12 minutes.
There’s something exciting about hearing a young band lock into a sound with roots that go back nearly fifty years and do it justice. Sunday Mourners pull it off on a fantastic debut album.
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