SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: ABSOLUTELY FREE – GENEVA FREEPORT

Absolutely Free
Geneva Freeport
Idée Fixe Records

The Toronto trio known as Absolutely Free have just released a new EP titled Geneva Freeport, and it is a hypnotic 21-minute followup to their self-titled debut album of 2014, which also happened to be long-listed to the Polaris Music Prize. It has been five years since then, but the band’s patient, thoughtful approach to releasing music has led to an EP that is rich and tense and beautiful and I can only imagine how incredible it would be to see them at a live show.

The songs on here are each different, with the opening track “Geneva Freeport” as a thumping, tense, tinkling, slow-rising space song, with sermon-like vocals that could soundtrack your strangest dream. The standout track is “Currency” featuring Meg Remy of U.S. Girls, and the addition of Remy on vocals is a major highlight and her feminine touch distinguishes this track from the others as a sexy cosmic dance tune that you can use to start a sci-fi dance party anytime you want. The closing track, “The Endless Scroll (featuring Carl Didur)” is a nearly ten-minute odyssey of cosmic psychedelia in which the band gets to really showcase the result of their patient approach by creating a rich, detailed, flowing sonic experience that is mesmerizing in a pair of good headphones.

All 21 minutes of this EP are difficult to turn away from, and it displays, almost track-by-track, the different sorts of emotions and energies and potentials Absolutely Free are capable of creating. I want more of this.

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