Music, Style & Culture

Memoryhouse: Growing Into A Sound

We chat to Evan Abeele about their change in sound and the thrill of signing with Sub Pop.

Since they began making music five years ago, Memoryhouse have made their name weaving together music and photography. Their idea of a ‘multimedia art project’ was a unique approach towards bringing to life the delicate and otherworldly electro-pop they were creating.

Now they’re back with a new album, ‘The Slideshow Effect’, the title emphasising their continuing interest in the bringing together the sound and vision. Yet the record also shows a band who have grown into a new sound – one that is more uptempo and less melancholic.

And it suits them perfectly. This evolution sees a band who are, in their own words, transitioning from a “bedroom recording project” into a fully realised band. It’s a sound they ‘grew into’ and they have half-seriously referred to their new sound as “Taylor Swift with Built To Spill as her backing band.”

We chat to Evan Abeele about their change in sound, the thrill of signing with Sub Pop and their attempts to give up watching reality TV.

Much has made of the change in sound on The Slideshow Effect? Was this a conscious thing or did it just 'happen'?
I think it's just something we grew into. We definitely put a lot of work into it, but I don't view the sound as "changing", I think it has evolved into a more well-defined state.

How would you describe 'The Slideshow Effect' to the uninitiated?
I would describe it as a "physical" record. Much has been made about our use of atmospherics and texture in the past, and I feel with this record we took our songs to a more physical space. The ideas and arrangements feel more present, and concrete, compared to our earlier work, which had a more ethereal quality.

You’ve said that your music fits ‘out’ of time – do you still think that with the new record?
I think it applies to the new record. I think a good song will remain a good song regardless of the period in which it was recorded. We purposely avoided a lot of modern recording techniques, and en vogue production techniques in order to make the have a more "timeless" feel.

Do you have a favorite song off the new album?
I think Denise and I like ‘Punctum’ the best. It was a lot of fun to record in the studio, and it has our favourite lyrics.

Was it important to do more ‘up tempo' songs?
I didn't really consciously decide to write more up-beat songs, but I wanted to establish the right kind of flow for the album. I think that if we kept everything
very slow and downtempo, the album would feel very plodding and somewhat arduous to listen all the way through. The pacing was well considered for the LP, and I think it provides a nice sustainable momentum throughout the record.

What has changed for us since The Years was first released in 2010?
I guess, in a sense, everything. We toured Europe and the United states a bunch of times. We got signed to Sub Pop. We got to record the album we had always wanted to record. It's been pretty hectic, but just incredible.

You’ve been going for five years now - what's the most memorable thing that's happened since you started out?
For me, signing to Sub Pop was the most memorable. It was incredibly validating, not just as a musician, but as a music geek as well. Their records mean a lot to me, and have grown up with me, so it's an incredible feeling to get to contribute to that history.

Do you feel an affinity with other Canadian acts?
We grew up in the small college town The Constantines hail from. Denise and I have probably seen them 500 times split between us. They are hands-down the best, and are spoken with such reverence by just about anyone who has seen them live. They just don't make a band like The Constantines anymore.

There are lots of different versions of the album - how important is the physical aspect of releasing an album to you?
I think that is just the neat bonus of getting to release the album through Sub Pop. They put a lot of care into what they release, and each record they put out has a special one-of-a-kind "gift" tailor made to the band's sensibilities. The new Fruit Bats album came with Fruit Bats incense, which is pretty awesome.

You intended Memoryhouse to be 'multimedia art project' – do you still see the band in those terms?
In a sense. The idea has changed a lot since the project began, but I think Denise and I both view it in terms of an audio/video project. Hence the "Slideshow Effect".

It took a while before you played live - which do you now prefer, recording or playing live?
I like both. Performing informs so much of the writing for us now. In the past, it didn't work that way, we had written ‘The Years’ before we ever performed it. Thankfully we got to tour the new material for at least two years and the songs really benefitted from it, they grew and changed so much. We had been performing ‘The Kids Were Wrong’ since our first show, and it went through such a rigorous development process, every tour saw a new arrangement. Getting to play the new material live before recording it made it really easy to identify the strengths of the songs, and ensure that we would get a good take from the recording sessions.

Do you enjoy playing the UK?
Yes, it's such a treat playing in UK and the rest of Europe. It's completely different compared to North America. We always feel so spoiled when we're there.

Your resolutions are you to lose 5 pounds, stop smoking, and watch less reality T.V. - how's that going?
Haha, I think we just wanted to come up with typical New Years resolutions. We don't smoke, but we do indulge in a weird amount of reality TV. Mostly cooking competitions and Storage Wars (I really don't know why). The resolution isn't going well, we are watching it right now.

Memoryhouse's new album ‘The Slideshow Effect’ will be released on 27th February.