The Memories Attack

The Memories Attack
The Memories Attack
(Little Mafia)
The CD The Memories Attack is the debut self-titled release on an Oklahoma label from a lo-fi duo with roots in a Moncton, New Brunswick Cub Scout troupe. The band The Memories Attack consists of members Chris Thompson (of Eric’s Trip and Moon Socket) and Ron Bates (of Orange Glass and Falling Bodies), friends since they met in their boy scout days. The music they make together features urgent bursts of noise and fuzzed-out guitars reigned in by delicate voices. The album starts off with “Love in the Time of Hate” and one of the catchiest hooks we’ve heard all year. The song wouldn’t be out of place on a Moon Socket recording, though here, with full band treatment, it seems right at home. The melancholic lyrics found in songs like “Never Knew the Secret,” “Summertime” and “End it All” are paired with haunting and expansive melodies that not only call to mind the pair’s previous projects, but at times exceed them. Probably one of the best lo-fi pop recordings that the ’90s didn’t produce, this collection of lovely and noisy gems is even more of an accomplishment in light of the fact that Bates and Thompson hadn’t played the songs together until a live show in February, months after the recording was completed. It’s a testament to their talent and songwriting abilities that it comes out as beautifully as it does.
Mark Black
categories: Coast pick