The Absence of Presence

The Absence of Presence is the sixteenth studio album by American progressive rock band Kansas. The album was originally due to be released on June 26, 2020,[2] but due to manufacturing delays the release date was postponed to July 17, 2020.[3] It is their fourth studio album without founding member, lead vocalist and keyboardist Steve Walsh, who retired from the band in 2014; the other three being 1982's Vinyl Confessions, 1983's Drastic Measures and 2016's The Prelude Implicit. It is their second album with lead vocalist and keyboardist Ronnie Platt and guitarist Zak Rizvi. It is the first album with keyboardist Tom Brislin, who replaced former keyboardist David Manion.

The Absence of Presence
Studio album by
Kansas
ReleasedJuly 17, 2020 (2020-07-17)
Length47:21
LabelInside Out
ProducerZak Rizvi, Phil Ehart, Rich Williams
Kansas chronology
The Prelude Implicit
(2016)		 The Absence of Presence
(2020)
Singles from The Absence of Presence
  1. "Throwing Mountains"
    Released: April 3, 2020 (2020-04-03)
  2. "Memories Down The Line"
    Released: May 15, 2020 (2020-05-15)
  3. "Jets Overhead"
    Released: June 5, 2020 (2020-06-05)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]

Background

The Absence of Presence serves as a follow-up of The Prelude Implicit, but unlike that album, The Absence of Presence was written entirely by the band. The bulk of the songwriting duties were carried out by the band's newest members, Zak Rivzi (who wrote the music for 6 of the 9 songs) and Tom Brislin (who wrote the music for the other 3 songs, plus lyrics for 6 songs), with other lyric contributions by Ronnie Platt (2 songs) and founding member Phil Ehart (4 songs). Ehart also came up with the album title, as well as at least three of the song titles (the title track, "Throwing Mountains",[4] and "Animals on the Roof"), which gave Brislin a concept to work with. The Absence of Presence marks the debut lead vocal from Brislin, making the total number of lead vocalists in the band at three, a feature not seen since Somewhere to Elsewhere. The album's recording sessions took place contemporaneously with the band's tour cycle.[5]

The album was released on CD, vinyl, various colored vinyl, and blu-ray with a 5.1 mix. It was the first Kansas studio album mixed in surround sound. It was also released on Blu-spec CD2 format in Japan.

Commercial performance

The album reached the following positions on various Billboard Charts: Album Sales, #10; Current Album Sales, #10; Independent Albums, #32; Rock Albums, #31; Germany Albums, #7.

Track listing
The Absence of Presence track listing
No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
1."The Absence of Presence"Tom Brislin,[6] Phil EhartZak Rizvi[6]8:22
2."Throwing Mountains"Brislin[6], EhartRizvi[6]6:18
3."Jets Overhead"Brislin[6]Rizvi[6]5:17
4."Propulsion 1"InstrumentalBrislin[4]2:17
5."Memories Down the Line"Brislin[6]Brislin[6]4:38
6."Circus of Illusion"Ronnie Platt[4]Rivzi5:19
7."Animals on the Roof"Brislin[6], EhartRizvi[6]5:12
8."Never"Platt[4], EhartRizvi4:50
9."The Song the River Sang"Brislin[6]Brislin[6]5:05

Personnel

Charts
Chart performance for The Absence of Presence
Chart (2020) Peak
position
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[7] 34
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[8] 110
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[9] 44
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[10] 50
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[11] 39
French Albums (SNEP)[12] 133
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[13] 7
Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)[14] 37
Scottish Albums (OCC)[15] 39
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[16] 79
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[17] 51
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[18] 4
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References
  1. "The Absence of Presence - Kansas | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic" – via www.allmusic.com.
  2. Ewing, Jerry (March 30, 2020). "Kansas release trailer for new album The Absence of Presence". Prog. Retrieved June 19, 2020.
  3. "Kansas move The Absence of Presence release date to July 17". Brave Words. June 16, 2020. Retrieved June 19, 2020.
  4. "Interview with Zak Rizvi and Tom Brislin of Kansas - The Absence of Presence". May 19, 2020.
  5. "Interview with Kansas' vocalist, Ronnie Platt". The Progressive Aspect. July 1, 2020.
  6. Robert Dye (May 13, 2020). "Stellar Musicianship Drives New Kansas Album 'The Absence Of Presence'". American Songwriter. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
  7. "Austriancharts.at – Kansas – The Absence of Presence" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved July 30, 2020.
  8. "Ultratop.be – Kansas – The Absence of Presence" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved July 24, 2020.
  9. "Ultratop.be – Kansas – The Absence of Presence" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved July 24, 2020.
  10. "Dutchcharts.nl – Kansas – The Absence of Presence" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved July 24, 2020.
  11. "Kansas: The Absence of Presence" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved August 2, 2020.
  12. "Lescharts.com – Kansas – The Absence of Presence". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 2, 2020.
  13. "Offiziellecharts.de – Kansas – The Absence of Presence" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved July 24, 2020.
  14. "Top 40 album DVD és válogatáslemez-lista – 2020. 31. hét" (in Hungarian). MAHASZ. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  15. "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved July 24, 2020.
  16. "Top 100 Albumes – Semana 30: del 17.7.2020 al 23.7.2020" (in Spanish). Productores de Música de España. Retrieved July 28, 2020.
  17. "Swedishcharts.com – Kansas – The Absence of Presence". Hung Medien. Retrieved July 30, 2020.
  18. "Swisscharts.com – Kansas – The Absence of Presence". Hung Medien. Retrieved July 29, 2020.
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