Absolute Losers - In The Crowd
We’re Still Having Fun
Released on September 26th, 2025
With most modern music now referencing a reference of a reference, I’ve grown an appreciation for artists that are willing to wear their influences on their sleeve. We’re all products of those that came before us, why try to hide it?
Absolute Losers don’t hide anything, laying both their influences and their tender hearts on the table for us to enjoy. On their second full-length, In The Crowd, they distill the best parts of 60s pop with the best parts of 2000s East Coast rock, delivering an album that’s brazenly nostalgic yet sheepishly relevant. With ear-wriggling melodies, palpable chemistry, and an unfussy delivery, In The Crowd harkens back to simpler times, when rock n roll really could save your soul. It sounds like a band! And they sound like they’re having fun! And these days, when it’s tempting to despair at the complexities of modern life, music that is simple, joyful, and unpretentious is more meaningful than ever.
The Langille brothers (two-thirds of the PEI-based trio) grew up listening to Sloan. In speaking with one of the Losers last weekend and admitting I know essentially nothing about Sloan (bad Maritimer alert!), I realized that I wasn’t fully equipped to write this review. So I spent the last few days listening to their discography, and indeed the connection is impossible to miss. But Absolute Losers take the best bits of Sloan and modernize the sound, exemplifying the same intense vibrancy but in a new context.
Absolute Losers are the next iteration in a long line of power pop-rock acts to rise out of PEI’s red mud - from Two Hours Traffic and Paper Lions to North Lakes and (debatably) Kiwi Jr. This tiny province has always absolutely LOVED to rock, and In The Crowd is a paragon of that particular island sound.
“You Never Say That You Love Me”, boasts the catchiest melody of the whole record (and maybe the whole world), one that makes it impossible not to sing the titular lyrics with a depressing spring in your step. A lyrical concept that’s cheeky yet poignant: the narrator seems to be watching someone fall out of love with them in real time. Like the “this is fine” dog, self-delusion brings a levity and almost jolliness to the dark situation. “You never say that you love me / and I see him over there and he looks so fine / I don’t really mind”. The song’s repetitive chorus doesn’t irritate, but rather drives the hook even further into your brain. With shimmering harmonies and tight starts and stops, the song highlights the trio’s awareness of their greatest strengths.
Another standout, “Don’t Go” is the most Beatles-tinted track of the album. From the jump, we’re treated to perfectly jangly guitars and snappy drum fills, a true testament to the band’s ability to give a song exactly what it needs and nothing more. With enough twists to keep you on your toes (including a perfectly placed key change), but never distracting from the simple premise, “Don’t Go” perfectly encapsulates the sentiment of ‘too little too late’.
The yearning continues on “Eagerness”, with the hard-headed track lending itself more to Bruce Springsteen or Joel Plaskett than the Losers’ usual 60’s pop jauntiness. With a classic rock swagger, the band delivers an impossibly catchy chorus once again. “Eagerness to be out of sight / Eagerness to be out of my mind”. Seemingly pining for puppy love that never was, they sing wistfully for some great escape, be it physical or psychological.
With tattoo-like melodies, cleverly crafted riffs, and three-part harmonies to write home about, In the Crowd perfectly captures the Absolute Losers at their best, and makes it easy to see why they’re quickly becoming one of the Maritimes’ rising stars.