Tim Linghaus’ Memory Sketches are just that, precious personal memories preserved in music.
He explains “What I know is that memories help me to define who I am. They establish connection between me and everything that is not present or future – sometimes sharp and palpable, more often soft and frail. Unfortunately, some memories fade away irrevocably. Hence, I am quite afraid of losing them….The idea behind memory sketches is to give particular memories a form, to preserve them if you like.”
The pieces are performed primarily on upright piano and synthesiser with Sebastian Selke accompanying Tim on cello on several tracks. Field recordings and vinyl crackles help convey the passage of time in the listener’s mind and even though these memories can never be lucidly transferred, you do come away feeling as though you have shared something intensely personal and maybe along the way you’ve also drifted back in time to your own memories that are conjured through Tim’s music.
The tracks range from 5 minutes to just 30 seconds…a measure of the complexity of those memories. Whilst inititally this may be perceived as unorthodox it makes perfect sense – if a 30-second piece of music is enough to capture and preserve a memory then why extend it? To do so would place the music before the memory which was not the intention here.
Some of the memory themes are very clear from the titles. ‘You In Our Rear-View Mirror (Cemetery Car Park)’, one of the longest tracks and ‘Funeral For Dad, Pt. II (It Was Nice To Have Known You)’ are amongst the most moving. Not surprisingly many of the pieces deal with the transient nature of life hinted at in the titles and although some carry a deep melancholy there is also an immense beauty in their fragility.
While Tim admits that he grapples with what memories are – their purpose, why some are more prevalent and lucid and others feel like a fading light – there are levels where the experience, on the surface at least, must be very similar to that shared by others. In these moments there is a strong resonance, a connection and a reminder that sharing such memories and stories is an essential part of human nature.
Whilst on the surface the album may be perceived as being very biographical in nature, listening to it will take you well beyond such personal boundaries…there is a therapy for all here and a reminder to connect in an age where many are becoming increasingly isolated.
Memory Sketches is out now, jointly released by Schole in Japan and 1631 in Sweden.