The Memory Band return with their fourth studio album On The Chalk (Our Navigation of the Line of the Downs) which is released on 20th May 2013 on Static Caravan. The album is inspired by The Harrow Way, a “lost road” born of antiquarian theories of an inland prehistoric superhighway stretching from sea to sea across the chalk ridgeways of Southern England.
The album was made following a period of extensive research, reading the works of both antiquarians and modern archaeologists, looking up folklore, folksongs and the local histories from various places along the route of the Old Road. At the same time, Stephen Cracknell began visiting sites along the Harrow Way, making field recordings and looking for the remnants of the road, trying to separate fact from fiction, reality from myth. All of this research was then channelled into a sonic journey made up of traditional melodies, Balearic beats, spoken word samples and field recordings heavily inspired by ambient albums such as the KLFs “Chill Out” and Eno’s “Before and After Science”.
This is also The Memory Band’s tenth year and to celebrate their anniversary they are putting on a live show at the Vortex in Dalston on 7th May, with support from the incredibly talented Nancy Wallace. In true Memory Band fashion the album will become the starting point for the live performance as Cracknell assembles a crack team of musicians from across the genres to interpret and improvise upon the initial navigation.
Tickets and further details are available from our good friends at Pull Up the Roots here.