THE MEMORY BAND

ON THE CHALK (OF OUR NAVIGATION OF THE LINE OF THE DOWNS) (Static Caravan)

18/20

The Memory Band – Stephen Cracknall plus assorted contributors – is now on its fourth long player, but you could be forgiven for asking ‘who dat?’. Despite consistently putting out beautiful, creaking, folk music sprinkled with occasional electronic fairy dust, The Memory Band remain resolutely under the radar. This is a minor travesty, given how eloquently and effortlessly Cracknall and his band manage to translate the starry-eyed wonder of the English countryside into musical magic. Comparisons to Tunng are not entirely misguided, but there’s something else about The Memory Band: something rooted in solemn, earthy melody, rather than laptop-honed precision. In the same way that PJ Harvey so cleverly invoked a mangled and compromised England of yore, so On The Chalk…  somehow opens a door straight into the strange rural heart of the country. Coming over like a rustic Fleetwood Mac in On Dancing Hill, and sounding like Lali Puna at their innocent and beguiling best on the kinetic Along The Sunken Lanes, every note on this curious little album simply slots into place. Heartbreaking album closer Where The River Meets The Sea completes a meandering masterpiece that constructs a sleepy narrative not unlike Badly Drawn Boy’s classic The Hour of the Bewilderbeast. In a just world, this too would be getting a nod for the Mercury. But then again, that’d probably ruin the magic …

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Words: Adam Corner