MEMORYHOUSE | The Slideshow Effect

Memoryhouse (aka duo Evan Abeele and Denise Nouvion) have posted their latest record, “The Slideshow Effect” (released today), up for streaming courtesy of Sub Pop. Take a listen to the record below. You can follow the band at facebook and on twitter. Memoryhouse will be playing in a couple of upcoming Iowa shows too: March 1 at The Mill in Iowa City at 7 p.m. and on March 2 at Maintenance Shop in Ames. Don’t miss it. — David D. Robbins Jr.

MEMORYHOUSE | This Will Be Our Year (Cover)

Memoryhouse celebrates the new year by covering one of their favorite tracks from The Zombies, “This Will Be Our Year”. The band posted this message on its blog: “Thank you everyone for all of your support in 2011, and I hope this song helps motivate you to lose 5 pounds, stop smoking, and watch less reality T.V. (or is that just me?). Lots of exciting things are in the works this year, onward and upward!” You can download the song for free at Memoryhouse’s blog. – David D. Robbins Jr.

Memoryhouse “This Will Be Our Year” (The Zombies cover)

MEMORYHOUSE | The Kids Were Wrong

Memoryhouse are giving away a single, “The Kids Were Wrong”, for the cost of an e-mail. The song comes from off the band’s upcoming February 28 Sub Pop release, “The Slideshow Effect”. Also, follow Memoryhouse at facebook and twitter. – David D. Robbins Jr.

MEMORYHOUSE | Quiet America (Video)

Here’s a new Memoryhouse track and video for “Quiet America” off “The Years” re-issue available September 13th on Sup Pop. The video was directed by lead singer Denise Nouvion and edited by a Their Bated Breath regular, videographer Jamie Harley. You can get a free download of “Quiet America” at the band’s facebook page. It’s a drifting, sad song with dark piano tones and slowly enveloping lyricism. A real ethereal beauty. Last time I wrote about Memoryhouse, the duo had just played an acoustic version of “Lately” for Invisible Children, a site aimed at using art to fight against the use of child soldiers in Africa. – David D. Robbins Jr.

MEMORYHOUSE | Lately (Acoustic – Video)

Gorgeous music for a cause. Memoryhouse plays an acoustic version of “Lately” for Invisible Children, a site aimed at using film, music and social action to end the use of child soldiers in Joseph Kony’s guerrilla group LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army). Kony is a man who uses violence throughout Central Africa, and according to the NGO Human Rights Watch has led the killing of thousands in the DR Congo, Central African Republic and southern Sudan since 2008. And in northern Uganda, where the group originated, he helped to conduct a campaign of killing, rape and child abduction. – David D. Robbins Jr.

HEIRLOOM | Memoryhouse

QUICK POST: “Heirloom” is the wistful b-side to Memoryhouse’s new single, “Caregiver”, out December 7 on Suicide Squeeze. – David D. Robbins Jr.

PERCHANCE TO DREAM | Memoryhouse

SOMNAMBULISTS OF THE WORLD, UNITE AND TAKE OVER: When Titania sleeps, this is what she surely hears. Memoryhouse is the Ontario-based duo of Denis Nouvion (singer) and Evan Abeele (instrumentals). The band makes atmospheric chill for the extremely laid back. Their new EP, ” The Years”, consists of four tracks, “Sleep Patterns”, two songs given names of Virginia Woolf novels, “The Waves” and “To the Lighthouse” — and “Lately (Deuxieme).” The latter plays like a drowsy School of Seven Bells behind these cryptic and languidly sung lyrics: “Lately, I’m not sleeping / I’m not breathing / Without machines / Lately, my heart’s been breaking (x2) / Through the seams.” Nouvion’s heavily echoed vocals play prettily, almost a half-step behind the muffled cascading of synth and white noise that sounds in part like television static, light oceans waves or a distorted soft rain. The band recorded a second version of “Lately” dubbed “Troiseieme” — which begs the question: Where is the “Premier” version? It’s nice to hear a band that isn’t in a hurry and isn’t trying to hide deficiencies amid a bluster. Below are the two versions of “Lately” — compare the two, and see which you prefer.  – David D. Robbins Jr. (Still photo taken from video for “Lately (Deuxieme)”.)

Memoryhouse “Lately (Deuxieme)”

Memoryhouse “Lately (Troiseieme)”