P.E.I.’s Absolute Losers Revive East Coast Power-Pop Spirit with Hook-Heavy New LP In The Crowd
Charlottetown, P.E.I. power-pop trio Absolute Losers are set to release their second album In The Crowd on September 26, 2025 via Having Fun Records, the latest imprint from Toronto’s We Are Busy Bodies. Produced, engineered, and mixed by Graham Walsh at Palace Sound in Toronto, the album marks a big step forward, broadening their sound into widescreen territory while holding onto the ragged charm and urgency that made 2023’s At The Mall feel like a basement secret worth shouting about. With early support from CBC, a wave of US college radio adds, and UK tour dates on the horizon, the band is fast becoming one of Atlantic Canada’s most exciting underground exports.
Where that debut leaned wiry and post-punk, In The Crowd swings wider, dialing into a jangly, harmony-laced sound that nods to Big Star, Superdrag, and Sloan’s One Chord to Another era, with garage-rock grit fused with Beatles-sweet harmonies while still keeping the band’s crooked grin. The guitars shimmer, the melodies stick, and the performances feel loose but locked in. It’s the kind of record that could have come out on murderecords in 1997 or on Merge in the early 2000s.
“We just stopped worrying if what we were writing was ‘cool’ or not,” says bassist and vocalist Sam Langille. “This time around, we let our instincts lead, and what came out was something freer, more melodic, more personal. And way more fun.”
That looseness carries across the record, from the propulsive, harmony-drenched “It’s An Understanding” to the sun-faded ache of “You Never Say That You Love Me.” The arrangements are crisp and confident, but never stiff, the sound of a band rediscovering their spark and playing for the joy of it.
The album also marks a shift in dynamic, with all three members, Sam and Josh Langille and Daniel Hartinger, taking turns at the mic, writing for the songs they sing. Their voices blend in character-rich harmony, adding depth and texture to the album’s emotional core. “The crowd is everyone around you,” says Sam. “Friends, family, partners, exes, your inner child… they all make up that crowd. And being in a crowd is funny, you can feel connected and totally isolated at the same time. That paradox runs through the whole album.”
In The Crowd trades the existential dread of their debut for something more human: themes of connection and disconnection, childhood memories, shifting relationships, and the blur between longing and nostalgia. At turns punchy, tender, and restless, it feels like a love letter to both the band’s youth and the records that shaped them.
A hook-filled, harmony-soaked LP that bridges East Coast spirit and classic power-pop, In The Crowd finds Absolute Losers hitting their stride, scrappy, melodic, and proudly out of step. With extensive touring underway and momentum building across multiple scenes, it’s clear they’re not staying under the radar for long. Sometimes being a loser really is the best way to win.