Absynthe Minded

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www.salzhaus.ch

Absynthe Minded are an enigma. Formed in the medieval town of Ghent in 2002, the band are easily the biggest, most lauded band in their native Belgium and yet their blend of folk/gypsy/indie rock is hardly what one might consider mainstream. Their latest album, the self-titled Absynthe Minded, has already won the band four Belgian Music Industry Awards this year - including Best Album, Best Single and Best Independent Rock group – and listening to it, it’s easy to see why; their sound is eclectic, unique even, yet tinged with such natural, almost absent-minded melodies, that it becomes instantly addictive.
Absynthe Minded are Bert Ostyn (voice), Jan Duthoy (piano, Hammond organ), Sergej Van Bouwel (double bass), Renaud Ghilbert (violin) and Jakob Nachtergaele (drums). They released their first EP, History Makes Science Fiction as far back as 2003 and subsequent long players, Acquired Taste (2004), New Day (2005) and There Is Nothing (2007), established them as Belgium’s favourite band and Europe’s best-kept secret. Their fourth album, Absynthe Minded, is another thing entirely – a record that’s likely to catapult them into the pantheon of bands that are successful in territories far removed from their own.
Recorded at Studio Ferber, Paris and produced by Jean Lamoot (Noir Désir, Alain Bashung, Girls In Hawaii), Absynthe Minded kicks off in swing-mode with If You Don't Go, I Don't Go and the song sets a template for this timeless, evocative record: Multiple Choice combines subterranean shuffle, Hammond-organ snarls, talking-blues verses, and a pop-tinged chorus; Heaven Knows has a languid rhythm reminiscent of early Dire Straits (!); Dead On My Feet is an elegant indie-pop delight; Oh! The Longing is an intimate and simple piano ballad; and the epic My Heroics, Part One was actually voted “best song of the decade” by the influential Flemish radio station Studio Brussel. Best of all, though (and better, no doubt, than the best song of the decade!) is Envoi (Send). Riding in on the back of an All Along The Watchtower-tinged riff, Envoi is an inspired-but-original interpretation of a Dutch poem by Belgian’s most celebrated writer Hugo Claus. Claus, in his latter years, suffered from Alzheimers, then died via legal euthanasia in 2008 but the joyous, uplifting Envoi (which has had more than 12,000 radio plays in France alone) is a heartfelt, joyous tribute to this great writer’s genius.
Absynthe Minded take their name from the legendary and dangerously addictive alcoholic spirit (the Green Fairy) that conjures up images of inspiration and the muse. That and the fact that chief songwriter Bert Ostyn is also somewhat absent-minded. At the age of eighteen, Ostyn found himself studying recording techniques in Ghent and discovering artists as diverse as Django Reinhardt and Miles Davis and it is the influence of these two visionary artists that informs Ostyn and Absynthe Minded to this day; both were eclectic and both demonstrated that anything goes and, with their blend of gypsy, jazz, folk and indie, Absynthe Minded offer everything they stood for and more.


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