[Music Review] Absence and her Sister - album review on TNT-Audio

Artist: Tim Eriksen and Peter Irvine
Album: Absence and her Sister 24/192 Download by Soundkeeper Recordings
Genre: New England Folk
Approx. price: $15 (CD), 16/44 .aif or .wav 10$, 24/96 .aif or .wav, $0$, 24/192 .aif or .wav $30
Reviewer: Graeme Budd - TNT-Audio France
Reviewed: October, 2026

When I was a kid I always (naively) thought that records were made by the band going into the studio and playing as one unit and that that was recorded by the sound engineer and by the miracles of science and engineering the performance somehow ended up on tape or vinyl. And then one day I got a copy of the Chas and Dave album "Mustn't Grumble". Reading the liner notes apparently all the instruments were played by Chas n Dave - as there are at least 4 instruments on some of the tracks there was either some extreme virtuosity going on, or my idea about everything being played at once was entirely wrong.

So I was wrong it seems and while this is a rare occurrence it does happen! Since then I've dabbled with the joys of multi-track recording and it does allow the creation of some extremely dense arrangements and it would be nigh on impossible to create most of today's music without resorting to this technique.

But the search of multi-track perfection could be considered somewhat sterile - especially with the ever present dreaded Auto Tune. This is often used (and sometimes to excess) as an easy way to "perfect things" but at the same time it robs the very human nature that makes up an essential part of music. "Humanity" being something I like a hi-fi to have as a characteristic.

Which brings us nicely (almost as if by design) to the subject of today's review. Absence and Her Sister on Soundkeeper Recordings. We've covered a release by Soundkeeper Recordings (SR) before but I'm sure you won't mind if I talk about them a bit here.

SR is the baby of Barry Diament and specialises in natural live recordings. No multi-tracking, post processing, compressors, limiters etc., ie they try to bring the natural sounding musical event to your living room. You can see how this is done on the website as Barry goes to length to point out what's been done and you can get a good idea of the recording process by just watching some of the clips taken during the sessions. This is actually one of the most fascinating parts for me - you can see what he's working with and that what comes out on the final product has no artifices - it's just a better sounding version of what's on the video clips which naturally suffer somewhat from the use of the camera microphone.

The Music

But now onto the music that's the subject of this review: Absence and her Sister by Tim Eriksen and Peter Irvine. The album is a collection of simple American Folk songs (specifically New England) recorded as I explained above and illustrated in the picture.

I'm going to come right out and say that for those of us raised on more modern recording styles the music is quite disarming on first listen but persevere and you'll find some hidden gems in this. One thing I will say is this album is a grower. On first listen, it's just some simple music in a natural acoustic but if you were expecting audiophile fireworks you're going to be disappointed. Dial your audiophile expectations down a notch, maybe pour yourself a glass of something and have another go. And it's here where the smiles will start. And it's here where you start to appreciate what SR has achieved. And that's to feel like you have a small group in your living room performing for you. There are some tracks I prefer more than others - I've still not completely got my head around the last track Aber Dojde Donke for example - but as an exercise in folk storytelling this is a superbly played set that gets as close to a live setting as you're likely to get. And you don't have to go to some grotty club and have people drinking and spilling craft beers (and even worse discussing the relative merits of each) to experience it. Far from overblown audiophile recording which will inevitably become a staple at hi-fi shows and ultimately have the musical merit of some of the Stock, Aitken and Waterman output of the 80's this manages to keep things real and as I mentioned above keeps the all important humanity in spades.

I could go on but ultimately I think that Soundkeeper Recordings have done what they set out to do and preserve the nature of the performance. Even if this particular collection doesn't appeal to you then I'm sure there's something in their catalogue that will. All in all a breath of fresh air in a sea of conformity. I can only wish Barry continued success with his venture. I wonder what he could do with a string quartet?

Oh and by the way - even on a modest set of headphones the recording style shows through so no need to go and purchase that upgrade you were looking for an excuse to get. Sorry.

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Tim Eriksen and Peter Irvine

“Absence and her Sister”

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