Weekly mp3 #107: Memoryhouse - Lately (two versions)

Pitchfork has two versions of this track - Deuxième and Troisieme. I can't decide which I like more, so it's lucky I don't have to.

It's a dreamy song sung by a woman - reminds me quite a bit mood-wise of stuff from the first half of the 90s like Mazzy Star and maybe Kirsten Hersh. 'Deuxième' is based around a guitar loop from Jon Brion's lovely theme from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, sounding like it's coming off an old, crapped out cassette... Keys and a metronomic pulse build and the whole thing is a bit of a hot shoegazer throwback haze.

'Troisieme' is just piano and vox. The stripped back arrangement works just as well as the more electronic approach.

Memoryhouse are an American duo comprising a guy who plays instruments and a gal who sings. That must be about as cliched as electronic duos comprised of two guys and their computers. Oh well. There's shed loads more free stuff from them all over Pitchfork and 'Deuxième' is off a free EP that you can download from the label's website.