The more melodic elements present in the album may certainly seem foreign to fans expecting the harsh emo of Dear Ephesus’ debut, but the band is clearly right at home in their more mature sound. The Absent Sounds of Me is produced by Joel Wild, who mixed and engineered the band’s independently released 5-song EP, A View of Epic Proportions. DeFabrizio points out, “The album is more like the EP, but just the next step, since we worked with the same people on this one.”

From the synthesized voices in the intro to the equally alien-sounding voices of the outro, The Absent Sounds of Me is impossible to easily define in any established musical genre. It is best described as pseudo-grunge with a tangible twist of emo, a la Pearl Jam meets Sunny Day Real Estate. The Pearl Jam comparison is not without grounds, as the album was mastered by Rodney Mills, known for his work on the new Pearl Jam album.

The pop sensibilities present in songs like “Big Brother” should strike the ears of Foo Fighters fans, and the slower moodiness of songs like “A Woe” reminds the listener of Pedro the Lion. No comparison really satisfies, however, mostly due to the diversity of musical influences to be found in the band itself, which includes DeFabrizio on bass, guitarists Ed Lamoso and Brett Levsen, drummer Jeff Irizarry and lead vocalist Aaron Wiederspahn. Wiederspahn explains, “This new album really displays everyone’s personalities in the band. We’re five very different individuals, and each personality is displayed on this album. You can see where each of us is coming from. Those influences come together and give the band a sound of our own, and the confidence in that is noticeable.”

The diversity of the album is also reflected in the lyrical themes, which seem to touch on a little bit of everything in Dear Ephesus’ characteristically dark way. Wiederspahn, who writes the emotion-filled lyrics, points to themes of child-like innocence, glorying in God, and “realizing the depth of darkness that lies within us and laying that all on God.” He admits, “There is a lot of diversity. I tried to convey a whole variety of emotions, because that’s life. It covers a lot of ground.”

Oddly, of all the emotions to be found in this life, Wiederspahn focuses not on the despair and gloom which so often fills the songs on the modern rock charts, but on joy. He says, “Our big ministry is our joy. Our joy is our enjoyment of God in glorifying Him. We really want people to be like, ‘What’s different about them? That speaks more than anything, if people just see you content in your God.”

DeFabrizio adds, “We want our lives to be the testimony, even just in little things like being grateful to club owners.”

With almost 200 Christian and club shows just this past year, including — thanks to secular label Deep Elm Records — a much-coveted stop on the Warped Tour, plenty of people have gotten to see Dear Ephesus live that testimony of joy — not to mention some intense rock. Maybe it’s Aaron Wiederspahn’s theatrical background that fleshes out the songs into entire emotional ventures, but most likely it’s just the potent talent of the band that makes their shows more of an experience than an event. DeFabrizio points out, “Our most intense shows are usually the ones where people expect a crappy show, when the odds are against us. Just when people least expect it, we rock it.”

Fans are starting to expect a powerful show from Dear Ephesus, though, and for good reason. Wiederspahn says, “We just love playing.”

Of course, it’s not always that simple. After all, life does cover a lot of ground. Remarking on conflicting opinions about Christian bands playing secular shows, Wiederspahn sadly notes, “It is so hard to be a band, yet alone being Christians in a band, and yet alone being in the age we are in! So many people have so many opinions, and there is so much division, even though God’s Spirit is intended to bring unity. We just want to see God glorified and that needs to be the reality of all we do. We really just honestly desire to see people love each other.”

Who can argue with that?

 by Val Sutton