Apron Strings - The Memory Band

Track list:

1. Blackwaterside
2. Come Write Me Down
3. Brambles
4. Green Grows The Laurel
5. I Wish I Wish
6. The Light
7. Want You To Know  
8. Deltic Soul
9. Why
10. Reasons
11. Evil  
12. The Poacher

Running time: 47 minutes
Released: 2006

I am almost but not entirely positive that I bought up albums from The Memory Band after hearing something I liked of theirs on some form of LastFM station. I am damned if I can remember the parameters of that discovery, mind... maybe Tunng? My suspicion is that these albums (I have this plus The Memory Band) are chock full of songs that I will not recognise enough to have associated them to the group without looking, but which I rather enjoy when they come up in random plays.

Now is the time to find out.

We start with Blackwaterside - experiment to cram three words together? - which has a catchy enough hook. The strings overlaying it are a touch sharper than I would like but there is an easy rolling charm to the tune that comes out of the marriage. With no vocals to play against, the meander of those strings provides the main element and whilst a flatter, smoother sound would have been welcome in places it is a promising start. The cut-over into the next song is rather abrupt, and this very definitely has an early Tunng-like feel. The sounds are stronger but the style of the vocal is very reminiscent of Genders-era Tunng. The vocal itself is not as strong, and the bolder volume of the instrumentation offsets this a little. I find the hook slightly sub-par though - a little too much repetition, reflected in the vocal with the chorus featuring over heavily. It is half brilliant effort, half disappointment - so near but so far. I should not be surprised, of course, by the early Tunng similarity, since Sam Genders and Stephen Cracknell - the main brain behind The Memory Band - went on to be The Accidental together.

Brambles has a promising start, layered loops that hint at much to like if the tune will break out from them. Unfortunately, there is not quite enough variation on the theme for me to really fall for this track. Like Come Write Me Down before it, it does not quite live up to its potential. 3 songs in and I am frustrated; almost very good, it just falls short each time. I hope the tunes to come break that pattern in a positive way, because it is literally just round the corner, over the hill, the next step that counts, etc. etc.

I see from their entry on LastFM that Lisa Knapp was a member at some point. Her vocal would add something - love her voice a lot, but she's not on either of the albums I own. However whilst I worry about that, I Wish I Wish has brought everything together brilliantly... at least to the point where the denouement overstays its welcome by about 2 minutes (which includes another chorus before it closes). I am prepared to forgive an unwillingness to end a beautiful song though - it is certainly a lesser crime than just failing to entice and excite. I am happy, too, when the next song starts with a stronger, jauntier guitar part. Positivity is maintained, energy transferred, head nodding engaged. The Light really is that - a ray of light in a dark evening, a breath of fresh air and just on the right side of the balance that was underweighted earlier.

The first refrains of Want You to Know are very promising, reminding me of Eagleowl (and specifically mf). It evolves away from that a bit, but remains in the same vein generally. This I approve of - Eagleowl are one of the best bands you have never heard of, one of the finds I am happiest with over the last few years. But enough of someone I am not listening to... after a short interlude, we get a nice fiddle/guitar tune which comes with a song. This is nicely put together; the album is winning me round after the early near misses. The tunes are hanging together better, the songs sung nicely.

Evil breaks that pattern. It is duller, less tuneful and less interesting. The vocal suits the style of the song, but is not to my taste. Overall the album is a bit of a mixed bag, and nothing shows this off more than the final track which is like none of those before. Slightly dodgy harmonies, more purposeful strumming and wandering melody. It is a little bit of a mess, but a mess that has a certain charm to it. My overall impressions have been mostly positive - enough so that I am searching out the two albums I am missing. It is a strange little collection though and I reckon more time (which it probably will not get, to be honest), would benefit the impression.

And Then We Saw Land - Tunng

Track list:

1. Hustle
2. It Breaks
3. Don't Look Down Or Back
4. The Roadside
5. October
6. Sashimi
7. With Whiskey
8. By Dusk They Were In The City
9. These Winds
10. Santiago
11. Weekend Away

Running time: 46 minutes
Released: 2010

I have listened to this disc a lot. Tunng became a firm favourite of mine with Good Arrows, which I picked up after hearing Sam Genders in a radio discussion and liking the cut of his jib. And Then We Saw Land was the first Tunng album after Genders left (going on to The Accidental and later Diagrams) and signalled a little bit of a change in direction but largely retained the likeable parts.

The album opens with a sonic warp, picked up by keys, then dropped (or rather faded back) in favour of a hooky guitar riff, to which rhythm is added. Hustle is a summer song, so light, bright and fun, foot tappingly so. It is pretty repetitive now I listen again and somewhere near the end gets a rattle that overpowers, but otherwise it is a strong little number that sets a tone nicely.

Catchy little tunes are what this era of Tunng is about. Gone/reduced are some of the more eccentric samples of Genders' era, in their place a structured framework to catch you and then keep you smiling. There are breaks in the pattern (there would have to be for it to work) but they really just emphasise the format.

Guitars are the main hook, but the patterning applies to the background sounds, percussion and so on too, as well as the vocal. There is some good use of harmony and contrast. Personally I think it is a really tough call between this and Good Arrows as to which is better (I still lean to the earlier one). Incidentally, Don't Look Down or Back is available as a free download here; it is pretty representative, but not my favourite: that is to come. The Roadside opens with staccato picking that just gets me tapping along so quickly that I am immersed before the other layers join in. I am noticing the echo effect on the vocal for the first time (consciously at least) now though, which just goes to show you can generally find something new even in favourites if you actually pay attention.

I used to think that the album went downhill from this point - shot its bolt too soon then faded out. There is an element of that, but it is premature yet. October is a neat tune; the harmony between the male and female voices is great, the way they blend in together whilst maintaining very distinct tones. It is a mellow track, too - nothing brash, nothing too catchy; a nice interlude before the much hookier Sashimi. Electrics make more of an obvious show in this one; no bad thing, but it makes it sound a lot more stark, cleansing the aural palate by sweeping away any lingering expectation of muted tones.

Whiskey not whisky, eh? I had not noticed the preference for Irish over Scotch previously; no idea whether it was intentional or the most natural way of spelling it for them. There is an odd moment in With Whiskey where it goes all A-Ha on us, lyrically - invoking Take On Me in the chorus, before finishing up and getting to the awesome instrumental that is By Dusk They Were In the City. This tune I adore... tuneful, loopy base with pauses and interjections before a build to a self-gratifying guitar solo - the sort of thing I am not generally a fan of - which is so well worked in to the overall progression of the track that it does not feel so... abusive. I think it is the continuation of the main structure around it that gives it that freedom as it sparks off the loops then drops out to allow the song to close. To be honest I did not really feel this time through as much as I have others - and particularly when I saw it live, but it remains my favourite track on the album.

These Winds strips everything back, largely a cappela but with a little percussion it is a complete tone change and feels longer than its sub-2 minute length. This is the point that I lose a little of my interest in the album with the track having less to hook me. Santiago continues this trend not because it lacks the hooks, but because I find the ones it has less sonically aesthetic. Hand claps and electronics predominate and these are just less compelling than the layered keys, guitars and percussion of earlier tracks. Weekend Away is not a great closer either. I love the way the chorus works but the verses and bridges are less compelling. Harmonies again are great, but the musicality of the arrangement is lacking for a large part of the track.  When it swells up and you get more of the traditional elements, the track is stronger (they are natural crescendos in the piece too); pity they had to fall away again in the way they do. There is a secret track on the end of it, but thankfully it's only a few seconds after Weekend Away comes to a close so dead air is not an issue. There is not a lot to the hidden song and really I think we would have been better without it.

So the last quarter of the disc is a little weak, there is a definite drop off in interest driven by a move away from the instrumentation used throughout the first 8 tracks to a more minimalist style that relies more heavily on electronica. Those songs are not bad, but they do let the side down a little. Happily there is much more good than bad and the album has reaffirmed its place time and again on my commute and on longer journeys too, and now here. I am sure it will again, because life is always better when you get a bit of Tunng.