Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fungus

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fungus
Studio album by
ReleasedSeptember 19, 2008
Recorded2001-2008
GenreExperimental rock
Length43:41
LabelInfrasonic Sound
ProducerOmar Rodríguez-López
Omar Rodríguez-López solo chronology
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez & Jeremy Michael Ward
(2008)
Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fungus
(2008)
Minor Cuts and Scrapes in the Bushes Ahead
(2008)
Omar Rodríguez-López chronology
The Bedlam in Goliath
(2008)
Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fungus
(2008)
Octahedron
(2009)

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fungus is the first instrumental and sixth overall studio album and by Omar Rodríguez-López, released by Infrasonic Sound[1][2] on September 19, 2008. It is one of four solo albums completed in 2001 by Omar Rodríguez-López during the interim period following the demise of At the Drive-In and the formation of The Mars Volta.[3] Absence... was tracked at Doug Messenger's North Hollywood studio only a few weeks after Rodriguez-Lopez recorded A Manual Dexterity: Soundtrack Volume One there, and is comparable to that project in both sound and atmosphere.[4][5]

The album features several tracks that were "originally intended for use by The Mars Volta." The second half of Hands Tied to the Roots of a Hemorrhage was reworked as a middle section of Eriatarka on The Mars Volta's first full-length, De-loused in the Comatorium.[6] Tied Prom Digs on the Docks features musical ideas that were later used on Cassandra Gemini on Frances the Mute. Furthermore, the song Teflon from the 2009 album Octahedron would be based on the instrumental A Story Teeth Rotted For.[4][7] Parts of Of Ankles to Stone would show up in the Con Safo sections in Cygnus....Vismund Cygnus and Miranda, That Ghost Just Isn't Holy Anymore. Additionally, Mood Swings would be used in a later Omar Rodriguez-Lopez solo album, どういたしまして (Dōitashimashite).

No personnel credits are listed in the insert for either the LP or CD, though it features a photograph of Jeremy Michael Ward never seen prior to this release. According to press release, Ward didn't play on the album but was present during the sessions.[8] Clouds Hill, who reissued the album, described it thusly: "Literally a timeless record: Remembering a friend, using a song that was too much for At The Drive-In and making a blueprint of a song The Mars Volta recorded many years later."[9]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Omar Rodríguez-López.

No.TitleLength
1."Hands Tied to the Roots of a Hemorrhage"4:05
2."City Dreams Inside a Truck"1:44
3."Sex, Consolation for Misery"4:25
4."Tied Prom Digs on the Docks"11:24
5."Seeth of Cloudless Hymstone"2:45
6."Mood Swings"6:53
7."An Ancient Shrewdness in the Veins"4:10
8."A Story Teeth Rotted For"3:48
9."Of Ankles to Stone"4:32
Total length:43:41

Release history

Region Date Label
Germany September 19, 2008 Willie Anderson Recordings
United Kingdom September 22, 2008 Willie Anderson Recordings
United States October 28, 2008 Infrasonic Sound

Personnel

Production

  • Omar Rodríguez-López – producer, writer
  • Jon Debaun – engineering
  • Shawn Sullivan – mixing

References

  1. ^ "Infrasonic Sound". Archived from the original on 2008-07-10. Retrieved 2008-07-10.
  2. ^ Cargo Records
  3. ^ November 9, John Barrett |; 2011 | 7:21am. "15 Really Bizarre Album Titles". Paste Magazine. Retrieved 2025-12-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ a b Omar Rodriguez-Lopez - Absence Makes The Heart Grow Fungus | cactusrecords, retrieved 2025-12-02
  5. ^ "Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fungus". The Marble Shrine. Retrieved 2025-12-02.
  6. ^ "Omargeddon #48: Absence Makes The Heart Grow Fungus". freakytrigger.co.uk. 2025-12-03. Retrieved 2025-12-03.
  7. ^ Omar Rodriguez Lopez - Absence Makes The Heart Grow Fungus, 2008, retrieved 2025-12-02
  8. ^ Quietus, The (2008-12-15). "Of Art And Metal: The Best Ambient, Doom, Drone & Sundry Esoterica Of 2008". The Quietus. Retrieved 2025-12-02.
  9. ^ "Clouds Hill | Absence Makes The Heart Grow Fungus". Clouds Hill | Absence Makes The Heart Grow Fungus (in German). Retrieved 2025-12-02.