New Music: Memoryy – Phil Collins Divorce Album

From the title alone, you know that Phil Collins Divorce Album by Memoryy is going to take you somewhere unusual and maybe unexpected.

I’m not sure what the opposite of a classic power ballad is, but maybe this could be it. I do like the way it makes me feel clever (sorry, not sorry), and within the song I was able to spot lyrical and sonic (is that a gated reverb?) references to Face Value, the 1981 debut solo album from the aforementioned Phil Collins that documented the events and fallout of his divorce.

Often, the essence of a power ballad is built on sweeping arrangements and dramatic statements to engage the listener, but gloss over the pain. Memoryy does neither here; the dream pop and chillwave textures of the arrangement imperfectly shift to become less reassuring, and slightly disconcerting mood-wise.

And yes, that Face Value echo remains, but the track could easily be a matching bookend for 10cc’s I’m Not in Love as much as the prog pop of Phil Collins, thanks to the contribution of Alex McMahon of The Handsome Family.

States Memoryy – Albuquerque, New Mexico based musician Shaun Hettinger – “Phil Collins Divorce Album is a woozy, psychedelic love letter to the music that got me through the first year of my divorce, and the strange experience of creating my own divorce album while finding solace in somebody else’s.

“Part sincere tribute, part dark comedy, part late-night emotional breakdown, it’s a song about using music to survive heartbreak, until the music itself starts falling apart.”

Phil Collins Divorce Album can be downloaded on Bandcamp as the ‘B-side’ of Memoryy’s Sandcastles single. For album news, as well as listening options for his music, head to Instagram, TikTok, or Facebook and click that follow button.

Header photo by Roberto Rosales