Fast-rising folk-pop duo Memorial deliver the sweeping new single 'Fake Moon', out February 15th through Lucy Rose's Real Kind Records
LISTEN TO ‘FAKE MOON’ HERE
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SELF-TITLED DEBUT ALBUM, OUT APRIL 29TH
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PRAISE FOR MEMORIAL:
“A brass-flecked heartbreaker that recalls Simon & Garfunkel and Sufjan Stevens”
SUNDAY TIMES CULTURE
“Each segment interlocks perfectly, enacting a moment of peace that feels much-needed at this point.” CLASH
“Real aural therapy… wonderful” – SIAN ELERI, BBC RADIO 1
“Fontaines DC like you’ve never heard them before, courtesy of a band called Memorial on this cover version… so Memorial, a two piece, made up of Jack and Ollie… we’ve played their stuff on PDP before but not this… come on that was PDP gold!” ANNIE MAC, BBC RADIO 1
“This is very beautiful…Kings of Convenience meets Simon and Garfunkel at their harmonious best.. Very beautiful… lush and gorgeous harmonies there” – CHRIS HAWKINS, BBC 6MUSIC
“This is called Latchkey and I really love it... Lovely to hear that kind of harmony coming back, I’ve always been a fan of that, it takes me back to the late 60s early 70s.” – ELTON JOHN, BEATS
“This really struck a chord with me… that sounds absolutely fantastic” – JOHN KENNEDY, RADIO X
With their highly-anticipated self-titled debut album arriving on April 29th through Lucy Rose’s Real Kind Records (Bess Atwell, Samantha Crain), featuring the previously shared offerings ‘Dialtone’, ‘Moth to a Flame’ and ‘Latchkey’, with the latter amassing over two million streams, featured on Spotify’s highly coveted ‘The Most Beautiful Songs in the World’ playlist, and recently nominated for Song of the Year at the AMA UK Awards, fast-rising folk-pop duo Memorial now continue the support for their forthcoming full-length with their latest single release ‘Fake Moon’.
Offering up more of that warm and sweeping aesthetic they have shone with since their infancy, ‘Fake Moon’ delivers another rousing return, filled with bold and heartfelt sentiment. With the duo’s Ollie Spalding taking the lead vocals this time around, we get to experience a rare glimpse into the songwriter’s more personal prose, making for a captivating and intimate listen throughout.
Speaking about the new single, Ollie said, “Fake moon was written at a time in my life when nothing was going right! I was fully dedicated to writing music for so long that when I stopped and looked around me I realised I was older and more lost than ever.
“Pretty much all my friends were in meaningful and healthy relationships & I was yearning for the same thing, but also felt as though I was too busy to ever hold anything down.
“I was in a rut, just hitting my mid 20s. That’s when the movies and stories say you’ll be settling down and having kids! The pressures of expectation can really drag on young people. It feels there’s such a short window of time to materialise these things or achieve success, that if you don’t feel ready at that moment, it’ll never happen. It’s those circumstances that amount to such a low feeling.
“This song was originally written in a first person perspective, but we had such a strong feeling of not being alone in this situation and that focusing on the self, takes away from the gravity of the sentiment, so we decided to change it. For people who hear themselves in this song, I really hope it makes you feel less alone. Everyone is different, just keep being yourself and doing what you love!”
Continuing the same vibrant direction they have showcased thus far, their eponymous full-length LP aims to deliver a wider and more dynamic approach to their flourishing folk-pop aesthetic. Their new collection looks to delve deeper into the pair’s personal connection and experiences, creating a more intimate and honest array throughout.
Speaking about the new album, they said, "The album was a joint therapy for us, there would be no songs if we didn’t create a sacred space to talk openly and honestly without prejudice. In the process we were able to reach the depths of our heartbreak, family issues, loneliness and friendship and Cathartically wrenched them into 12 songs. We’re unbelievably proud of the outcome. It’s our first album, a truly monumental thing for us, it felt like we were working towards it before it was even a possibility, so the fact it’s finally here is mind blowing. We poured everything into it and can’t wait to put it out into the world and share it with you."
‘Memorial’ Tracklist:
Moth To A Flame
Honest
Dialtone
Fake Moon
Latchkey
Amy
Midpoint
Broken Record
Memorial
Old Oaks
Love Is A Kind Of Sadness
Half Light
Peel back the delicate layers of Memorial’s self-titled debut album and it reveals a record of remarkable vulnerability and honesty. Through songs such as Moth To A Flame’s elegiac sigh or Latchkey’s spell-like interplay of voices and acoustic guitars, it’s an album that speaks of love, longing and loneliness with a whispered intimacy. Like only the very best and most affecting music can, it talks to you like your closest and dearest friend.
Ollie Spalding and Jack Watts had been best friends for years before they ever played music seriously together. They’d both been in various other outfits but until one Halloween when all their friends were partying, they thought to book a rehearsal room and give it a go. The magic between the two was instant.
“It was like a cathartic release for us,” remembers Watts. “We booked a rehearsal room just for a laugh. We thought, ‘Let's just see how it goes…’ It was so much more fun than anything else we'd done. We were both thinking, ‘How the hell have we not done this before?!?’ It just felt like: Wow, this is truly ourselves.”
Like most good mates, the pair had long shared similar tastes and reference points when it came to music. More importantly, that long held friendship and the trust that came with it meant that they could be completely open and honest with one another when it came to writing songs together.
“We have this ability to be completely open with each other,” says Spalding. We never take offence to anything the other has said. We talk about things with each other that are really private because we’re really good friends. Which means that now we can write about them. It’s like therapy in a way.”
“We’re not just good acquaintances, we hang out together all the time so a lot of the experiences we go through, we go through together” adds Watts. “If someone is in turmoil or going through something that was really tough at the time, because we’re writing together, you’ve got two views on it. One person can be in it and having all these emotions and the other person can be seeing it from the outside and can have a bit more clarity or a difference of opinion. When you mix those together it makes a really interesting viewpoint.”
Though the impetus of many of these songs was one of pain, of love lost and of struggling to find yourself in the world, thanks to the unique emotional and music lexicon the pair have forged together, really, at the end of the day, Memorial’s debut is an album about friendship and the hope it brings.
Memorial will be hitting the road in May and June in support of the release including dates at the below. Tickets are on sale NOW.
MAY
7th May – Reading – Are You Listening? Festival
12th May – London – Union Chapel (supporting Amber Run)
25th May – Birmingham – Kitchen Garden Cafe
28th May – Bristol – Dot To Dot Festival
29th May – Nottingham - Dot To Dot Festival
30th May – Manchester – The Castle Hotel
31st May – Edinburgh – Sneaky Pete’s
JUNE
1st June – Newcastle – Little Buildings
2nd June – Leeds – Hyde Park Book Club
9th June – London – The House of St Barnabas
11th June – Brighton – The Folklore Rooms
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