Barcelona
Absolutes

From Seattle, land of grunge, the piano rock of Barcelona.

"Absolutes" is the debut album of 2009, a structurally simple album, yet at the same time complex, sincere, and rich in emotions. To immediately set things straight, we're talking about a background pop/rock style Coldplay, less commercial, deeper, and with interesting Indie nuances.

In demonstration of the British touch despite their place of origin, the opening track "Falling Out Of Trees", reminiscent of Travis and Feeder, serenely colors the beginning of the album. Its slow and melancholic pace would, in my opinion, even predispose it to be the final track of the album, but the intention of the trio led by Brian Fennell was probably to make their intentions clear, this is who we are and this is what we give you. It's no surprise then the British touch of the excellent "Lesser Things" with an exciting finale driven by the convincing performance of the pianist also the leader and voice of the group, the already mentioned Brian Fennell. What surprises most after listening to the first tracks is that you get the impression of listening to mature and experienced musicians, lads facing the embarrassment of a debut album, but already veterans of a genre not always easy to tackle. The fifth track of the album, the highly successful "Come Back When You Can", among the band's more commercial tracks, seems already to be the crowning of a good album, even though it hasn't even reached halfway through.
It continues with "Get Up", the first track without the aid of instruments outside the piano, which perfectly accompanies the good Fennell's voice second by second, until it gently merges into the next "The Takers", whose initial indie influences are gradually accompanied by a background choir that's appreciable but somewhat predictable.

The album continues as emotions and quality proceed, with good tracks like "Response" and "Faded", which accompany to the latter part of the album, which due to pieces like "Numb" and "Please Don't Go" might risk being a bit soporific. All tracks are nonetheless pleasant and well-crafted; overall, it can be said to be a good debut by the American group, a debut capable of channeling melody and freshness with a fair amount of innovative spirit. I don't want to exaggerate and I state that "Absolutes" certainly wasn't the album of the year 2009, but it definitely achieved less success than its actual quality warranted, in my opinion also due to the imperfect marketing work of Universal Motown, a branch of the much more famous record company Motown Records (Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, etc.).

An album for post-work or post-study relaxation, elegant and calm, will be pleasant even to those who aren't familiar with or fully enjoy the genre, I am proof of this. Score 7+