Longboat Releases Absentia This Friday, Turning Loss Into Atmosphere
Arriving this Friday, February 6, Absentia finds Longboat sitting with what’s missing instead of trying to fill the space. The new album from Igor Keller (Longboat) doesn’t frame loss as a single emotional event. It treats it as a condition, something that shows up in relationships, cities, identities, power structures, and even humor. The result is a record that feels patient, reflective, and quietly unsettling in the best way.
Rather than telling one continuous story, Absentia unfolds as a series of vignettes. Each track approaches loss from a different angle, sometimes intimate, sometimes observational, sometimes edged with irony. Longboat has shared the intentions behind each song, but he leaves plenty of room for interpretation. The album never insists on meaning. It lets listeners bring their own experiences into the empty spaces.
Sonically, the record is grounded in performance and restraint. Keller handles all vocals and steps into soprano sax on “Who Can Stop Me Now?”, adding a sharp, expressive layer to one of the album’s most pointed moments. He’s joined by Ryan Leyva on acoustic and electric guitars with backing vocals, Eric Verlinde on electric piano, Will Moore on bass, and James Squires on drums. The band plays with purpose, never overcrowding the songs, allowing atmosphere and detail to do the work.
The opening track, “A Hole in the Air,” sets the tone immediately, focusing on the loss of a longtime partner and the hollow quiet that follows. From there, the album widens its scope. “Begin at the End” reframes loss as a transition rather than a conclusion, while “Captivity” imagines the loss of freedom through the eyes of a wild predator, a metaphor that feels tense and uneasy.
Several songs turn toward systems and consequences. “Down the Drain” follows a man who loses a fortune but seems to learn almost nothing from it. “Everything to Offer, Everything to Lose” centers on a career-track worker sacrificed to protect those higher up. “Hope Dies Hard” distills the theme to its core, suggesting that once hope is gone, everything else follows.
There’s also a sharp, observational edge running through Absentia. “Style Grenade” pokes at a hipster obsessed with staying relevant, to the point where losing his sense of cool becomes impossible. “What and WHAT?” explores the cruel irony of a metal fan losing his hearing, while “What They Tell Me” approaches cognitive decline with an eerie calm. “Once It’s Gone” offers a brief character study of a woman who loses her beauty, revealing that what disappears often exposes what was already there.
One of the album’s most grounded moments comes with “Replaced with Nothing,” inspired by Keller’s experience in Seattle. The song reflects on culturally significant buildings being torn down and left undeveloped, leaving behind a sense that the city itself is slowly erasing its memory. It’s a subtle but powerful connection between personal loss and collective disappearance.
The album closes with “Who Can Stop Me?”, shaped by the loss of an American election and the consequences that ripple outward. Rather than leaning into outrage, the track feels measured and reflective, focusing on momentum, uncertainty, and what follows when control slips away.
Recorded and mixed at Studio Litho by Floyd Reitsma and mastered by Ed Brooks at Resonant Mastering, Absentia carries a strong sense of cohesion, with Keller writing, arranging, and producing the entire album himself. He’s also begun working on stripped-back piano versions of select tracks, including “Captivity,” “Down the Drain,” “Replaced with Nothing,” and “Who Can Stop Me?”, with “Hope Dies Hard” currently being reworked.
Out this Friday, Absentia doesn’t rush to resolve its themes or offer easy closure. It lingers in absence, examining what remains when something important is gone. That restraint, and that trust in the listener, is what gives Longboat’s latest release its quiet, lasting impact.
