Thank you so much to everyone who came out Friday night to support us, connect with us, and share our music. It means so much. We don’t have words for it. You all have given us the strength and the space and the energy to pursue this, and we absolutely could not do it without you. So what if that sounds a little cliche—it’s true.

Check out our updated press page to read the kind words people have said about Keep Calm and Carry On. A sampling:

“At times it seems as if (Markwardt is) singing simultaneously out of two parts of his throat … the viola, trumpet, and bass that support him don’t so much melt together as echo off each other, making for an incredibly deep, layered sound.” — The Onion

“The second the band started to play, I was mesmerized … the songs are played with a loose flexibility and a building momentum …” — City Pages

“The Absent Arch are THE BEST young up and coming new bands in the Twin Cities and their debut album ‘Keep Calm And Carry On’ is one of the best local releases of the year.” — Morecowbell.net

Please stay in touch—we have all sorts of things in the works.

— Brian

November 8th
Freem Centennial Party
w/The Shivering Fits
All Ages
Free
10pm

November 21st
CD RELEASE!!!!! Sponsored by More Cowbell & Cakein15.com
Triple Rock Social Club
w/A Paper Cup Band, The Glad Version & The Chord and the Fawn
21+
$6
9pm

Hey all, a last-minute reminder to join us tomorrow at the Triple Rock, where we’re opening for the Dodos. Cover’s $10. Show starts at 5 p.m. with the Sin Horses. Then us, then the Dodos. We can’t wait. See you all there.

–Brian

New song up. Not much to say, I had a day off work today. There was a fire a block down from my place two nights ago. They blocked off the street in front of the bar I live by. It was a strange night. ENJOY!

-Will M.

So we have two new song journal songs for you guys. Let me explain them separately because they are polar opposites when it comes to their descriptions.

‘Naked Man’: This song came about during a recording session a few weeks back. The story of Naked Man goes much deeper than what you hear here. Naked man will go down as a defining moment in the history of The Absent Arch. I would explain the story, but that would take away the intrigue of it. Ask us about it sometime and we’ll tell you. If you do know the story then this song will make a hell of a lot more sense. This is completely made up, on the spot, by our bass player extraordinaire Will Garrison.

‘Poor Spokes’: I actually wrote this song about two months ago. I was going through some stuff; as a person, as a writer, as a friend. This was for a girl and for me all at the same time. I tried to turn it into an Absent Arch song and we actually played it live twice I believe, but it never really became what I wanted it to be. Recently I wrote a song fairly similar to this (except about a completely different topic) and decided that that song was more appropriate for our band than this one. I completely reworked ‘Poor Spokes’ on ukulele here and recorded it tonight after a fantastic burrito. I was starving, it was good, I can now put this song to rest. Not sure if that is a good thing. We will find out.

Hope you guys enjoy.

-Will M.

Hey all,

If you’re under 21 or at the very least willing to not booze it up until after the show, come spend some time with us at the Triple Rock tonight (Wednesday). We’re one of a cadre (okay, five) bands playing, including the fantastic Fake Problems from Florida.

We’re third. We think we’ll go on around 7:30 or 8 p.m. But come out for the whole thing if you can. You don’t want to be that guy (or girl).

This might be our last show for a little while (no Kate, don’t worry when you see ‘last show,’ just get to the end of the phrase first) while we finish work on our first and still-untitled record.

Thank you for listening.

–Brian

So while the rest of the band is out on a mini tour with Spirits of the Red City for a couple days I decided to keep busy and write. Therefore head over to the Song Journal section and check out the outcome. It’s called ‘Don’t Bother’ and is a vocal-guitar-ukelele-screwdriver-guitar case-metal pan ho-down. Hope you enjoy.

-Will M.

Hey all,

We’re playing the Stone Arch Festival this Saturday at 1:15 p.m. on the Star Tribune stage. We’re honored to be sharing the stage with some of the best bands in the Twin Cities, and hope you come out to listen to everyone.

Come hang out with us. We’d love to see you.

–Brian

There is a new song called ‘The Woods’ up in the song journal. I wrote it tonight at about 2:30am. Hope you enjoy it. Goodnight.

-Will M.

War Window, our five-song single previewing our upcoming full record, is now available. It includes rough mixes of three songs from the record–’War Window’, ‘Little Kids’ and ‘Ants’–plus a live recording of ‘Weathervane’ and ‘Devil’s Blues’, which Will recorded in his bedroom all by his lonesome. We think $3 is fair ($2 shipping if you’re far away from us), although if you find us at a show and buy us beer, we’ll give one to you for free. Lots of them, maybe.

Click on the ’stuff to buy’ link to grab yourself a copy.

-Will