DRILL FOR ABSENTEE
CIRCLE MUSIC +4 (ROYAL BLUE) - LP

UPC: 8944513677866 
Label: EXPERT WORKS
Format: LP
Release Date: December 27, 2024
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Drill For Absentee reformed in 2021 after a 20-year hiatus with a plan to record a single, new song and release it on the internet. The impetus for this project was twofold: DFA released very few tracks in the 1990s and had a thin catalog, and making music in the post-hardcore style is a fun and engaging musical endeavor that the band members were eager to take up again.

Michael Nace and Kevin Kelly teamed up with Okinawa drummer Ken Kuniyoshi and embarked on a fully remote recording odyssey. One song grew to 4 and then 8. The Strand of a Lake, Volume 1 EP was released on September 13, 2022, with Volume 2 to follow in due course.

In the interim, it seemed like a good idea to re-release the long out-of-print releases originally issued by The MindWalk Recording Label on one 12-inch vinyl record. The Circle Music EP was released on CD and never had a vinyl release, and only 1,000 copies were pressed for the debut, self-titled 7-inch.

The new LP, “Circle Music + 4,” features all of the band’s previously released music from the 1990s – the 5 tracks from the Circle Music EP plus the 2 tracks from the 7-inch – as well as “Drown In Words” from the 7-inch session and “The Sea is Watching,” a new track.

“Drown in Words” was a frequent song opener for DFA in the 90s and remained in the band’s repertoire until they stopped playing in late 1999. The original master tapes for this song are lost, which is why the sound quality is diminished.

“The Sea is Watching” was worked on by the band in 1998 or 1999 and later abandoned. This new version uses a bass track recorded by Kevin on DFA’s 4-track recorder from the late 90s and augmented with new musical ideas from the band and drum grooves from new DFA drummer Ken Kuniyoshi. The sung melody is also a remnant from the late-90s arrangement.

All of the tracks were mastered by Bob Weston at Chicago Mastering Services.

TRACK LIST:

Side A:

1. Circle
2. Albatross
3. Ars Poetica Scribbled on a Parking Ticket
4. Process Music For Numbers Ascending From Five

Side B:

5. Naked Singularity
6. This Process Will Make Chicago Wave Its Little Hand
7. Detunist
8. Drown In Words
9. The Sea Is Watching

Drill For Absentee:

Kevin Kelly: Bass, guitar, vocals
Michael Nace: Guitar, vocals
Bryan Sargent: Drums, 1995-1999
Ken Kuniyoshi: Drums, 2021-Present

Vincent Novara: Vibraphone and percussion on tracks 4-5