Absentee

Balancing the morose with the upbeat, without sounding overtly one or the other, is a tilting, age-old dichotomy that has troubled musicians from the get go -- any tune too saturated in either can often sound a bit contrived and thus a little hard to swallow. But here, with "Bitchstealer," a song off their forthcoming, awesomely-titled record, Victory Shorts (out in the U.S. Nov. 4 via Memphis Industries), London-based quintet Absentee effortlessly find middle ground.

Rooted in brash, four-eyed garage-rock swagger, riffing guitars -- set on high by blasting horns -- encapsulate the track as guitarist/vocalist Dan Michaelson's dark-humor romance croaks in a lackadaisical, ocean-deep Calvin Johnson-like tone. "No, I don't want to lose you," he sulks over soft, surprisingly bright backing coos courtesy of vocalist/instrumentalist Melinda Bronstein, before the verse -- a rigmarole of Pavement-mess guitars -- segues into a sleek, forward-motion chorus. Catchy, loose, raw, refined: Absentee paint the grey area so many have strived for with the entire color wheel.

Now Hear This: Absentee, "Bitchstealer" (DOWNLOAD MP3)