New Music: MEMORIALS – Cut Glass Hammer

Kent duo MEMORIALS tie into the legendary Canterbury scene of their hometown on the groove-laden tones of Cut Glass Hammer.

Verity Susman and Matthew Simms don’t live in the past on this preview from their upcoming All Clouds Bring Not Rain LP, even though the arrangement does embroider avant-rock and psychedelic tones into the arrangement.

As the vocals gently hitch themselves to a looping lyrical mantra that glistens with shards of shoegaze and kosmische, the unhurried melody gradually builds – but not into a crescendo, but a soft, subtle yet sudden cessation.

Canterbury is a city, but a pastoral one, and maybe that feeds into the bucolic ambience of Cut Glass Hammer. But its parent album was recorded in the woods of southwestern France, and that could be why I hear soft whisperings of the summery stillness of Stereolab and Nouvelle Vague.

Say Susman and Simms of the album, “We are increasingly drawn to the way records used to be made, both the sound of the equipment used and the choices forced by that equipment; there wasn’t the option to tinker for ages, it was about capturing a moment in time and committing to that.”

They continue, “It’s far more satisfying to record sounds that exist in a real space and so become unique to us: they aren’t the same as the samples readily available everywhere…we are actively turning away from the easy option at almost every opportunity!”

All Clouds Bring Not Rain can be pre-ordered on Bandcamp in a range of vinyl formats and is set for release via Fire Records. MEMORIALS embark on a European tour from April to early June – details on that can be found on their Facebook and Instagram feeds. 

Header photo by David Masters