Fresh Track: Memory Tapes “Sheila”

All I can say is YES!  Back in 2009, an eight song LP by the name of Seek Magic from Memory Tapes struck my ears and absolutely blew me away.  To be honest, I became, and still am, absolutely obsessed with this album.  Featuring a non-stop array of deeply thought out and emotional tracks like “Bicycle” and “Stop Talking”, the album is a 40-minute lesson on how to make a great album.  Lamenting the fact that I wasn’t into vinyl before this year, I always browse my local record store hoping for a copy to somehow slip in.  And believe it or not, a completely unused one showed up one day in the used bin.  I basically shit myself on the spot, grabbed it, and ran home.  I probably listened to it three times back to back to back that day.  I’m not sure why this album gets forgotten about or doesn’t seem to resonate with everyone, but for me, it’s truly one of the best listens and most cherished pieces of wax I own.

During the summer of 2011, the long-awaited follow up entitled Player Piano hit the shelves, and for whatever reason, it just wasn’t the same for me.  There were some great individual songs such as “Wait In The Dark”, but on the whole I just couldn’t connect in the way that I previously had.  Perhaps it went a little too poppy and away from the large, momentous electronic moments that were so prevalent in Seek Magic.  Perhaps it lost that the dark, mysterious edge all those first songs had.  Or maybe Dayve Hawk just had a different inspiration and wanted to try something different.  Whatever the case, it was more of “like it”, as opposed to, “love it”, experience for me.

But that Seek Magic feel is back all right.  Memory Tapes dropped the first track off a new LP entitled “Shelia” on Monday, and Christ, is it good.  Weaving in and out of vocal leads, electronic moments, guitar solos, tender moments of thought, and everything else you can imagine under the sun, it’s an eight-minute ode to the greatness inside Dayve Hawk.  The album is entitled Grace/Confusion and is scheduled to be released 12-4-12 via Carpark Records.  Take a listen below.

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Written by Greg Dahman