Memoryhouse:  Translates into Pop

Memoryhouse are Denise Nouvion and Evan Abeele. They began recording in February but it took until summer for it to really turn into something concrete. They make poetic music; icy instruments under Denise's breathy vocals, scattering avant garde influences in amongst frosty electronic pop. Their words are as equally beautiful, and they talk earnestly about their influences and reason for recording. They're sticking it, in their own laid back way, to the boring sods who say there's yawnsome nostalgia attached to all of this 'bedroom music'.

Away from the hyperbole of the blog Evan Abeele explains what Memoryhouse means to him.

The project was originally a means to escape the paralysis of winter. We had originally just recorded some cover songs (eg. These Days – Jackson Browne) and one-off tunes for fun. Once we had a little more free time in the summer, we were able to conceptualize what we wanted out of the project and began writing and arranging our own material. I don’t think Denise was convinced she could sing until we sent Ed Droste of Grizzly Bear our cover of Foreground sometime in the summer. He was really supportive; he said he’d played it for the rest of the band backstage at one of their concerts, and absolutely loved it. It was a big confidence boost for us both. I think in many ways, Memoryhouse was influenced by the aesthetic I employ in my solo works; I try to incorporate the “dreamy” atmospherics of my ambient material into Memoryhouse’s sound. I’ve always found classical minimalism intriguing for how well some composers are able to achieve such a variance in tone and melody from cycling what essentially amounts to two chords, if even that, in most cases. So I guess my ideal was translating what I learned from studying those composers into pop music—something capable of reaching out to more people. The name “Memoryhouse” is itself, a tribute to German composer Max Richter’s seminal work. The idea behind the digital-only release of our forthcoming EP is really just to connect with people. I feel that, objectively speaking, people really want a reason to support the artists they listen to, but at the same time, there’s a certain level of apprehension—the sheer amount of music being advertised and promoted around the blogosphere and other media is quite staggering, so it’s really easy to get lost in the shuffle. I think that a lot of bands and artists are taking to giving away their albums as a means to connect with as many people as possible, in a sense, “earning” their fans, “earning” the right to release future material on vinyl and other formats. Free music keeps things pure, even if it is fleeting. Without any monetary investment, you’re inclined to appreciate the music for what it is, or don’t! That’s the beauty! Way back when, like 15 years ago, when people were buying CDs based on one or two singles, there was this inescapable feeling that you had to justify your purchase— justify the time and money your parents wasted driving you to some gaudy department store to buy the new Boyz II Men album.. Free music allows the band or artist to establish a direct connection to the listener, no strings attached. We’re hoping to eventually physically release some 7” singles and our LP, but for the time being, the knowledge that someone is listening at all is good enough. I think people should definitely check out Mathemagic, and I’m not saying that out of any personal bias! Their music is just really wonderful. If you like artists like Washed Out or Toro Y Moi, then I think you’ll really love what they’re doing.

Memoryhouse have a digital release out on Beko, soon.

By clicking on the words, gosh, isn't this lovely, you can download two Memoryhouse tracks