Peacefrog

The Memory Band began life at the turn of the 21st century, the progeny of one time Gorodisch electronicist Stephen Cracknell, his computer and a lot of imagination. In addition to releasing well respected records on the Leaf label as Gorodisch, Cracknell was a founder member of the legendary Trunk Records and spent a short stint playing bass with Badly Drawn Boy. He was also partly responsible for London�s infamous Folky-Dokey club nights � part of the crucible that rekindled recent interest in all things folk.

Stephen�s raison d�etre for the Memory Band was based on the idea a folk �supergroup� for the 21st century � drawing on disparate talents from across the contemporary musical firmament � all of whom shared Cracknell�s predilection for music of an acoustic bent and songs about love and dancing. Early recruits included Fridge�s Adem (before he became a neo-folk magus in his own right).

The original Memory Band plan, despite flying in the face of fashion, was inspired by the music and ethos of everyone from the Penguin Cafe Orchestra, Brass Monkey and The Etchingham Steam Band to Dr Dre, Aerial M and Fennesz (amid a plethora of other, extraordinarily diverse influences). Stephen seemed bent on creating a place where bucolic instrumental reveries met cut�n�paste computer techniques, but with a wistful, accessible �man in a shed� aesthetic always to the fore.

At the beginning of 2003 Cracknell and co released a debut vinyl EP (Calling On) on Spinney subsidiary imprint Hungry Hill, garnering the band some interested notices and leading to the recording of a subsequent EP, Fanny Adams which appeared at the end of that long, hot summer. Spinney had recently received hosannas having re-released Just Another Diamond Day - the long-vanished, cult album by Vashti Bunyan - and with the musical climate palpably turning in their favour, the Memory Band�s released their eponymously titled debut album in July 2004.

Essentially a compilation of the two EPs � with the tracks appearing for the first time on CD - the album duly attracted rave notices. That the zeitgeist had begun to catch up with the Memory Band�s sophisticated take on musical rusticity was reinforced by the band�s ensuing popularity in the live arena. Now a sextet (sometimes bigger), the �in-the-flesh� version of the Memory Band had come a long way from computer loops and now boasted some hot-blooded permanent members like singer Nancy Wallace and fiddle player Jennymay Logan (of the highly respected Elysian Quartet), who, alongside guitarist-singer-leader Cracknell, would propel the group into an exciting, life-affirming on stage spectacle that would win legions of new admirers at the band�s ensuing Green Man Festival, Glastonbury and Big Chill appearances.

After a year spent gigging, the band signed to Agenda/Peacefrog in 2005 and began recording a new album. Tracing a partial journey back from the live band formula and into the digital clutches of the computer again, many of the new tracks were built from a moir� of digital loops, though a considerable number of tracks were captured completely live. Indeed, far from concreting over the hedgerows, Apron Strings, as the LP would be dubbed, echoes to the very non-machine-like talents of singer Nancy Wallace (whose own Young Hearts EP had been released by Hungry Hill the previous year - to rave reviews) along with inspirational violin courtesy of Jennymay Logan, with well-travelled viola player Rob Spriggs adding his resonant signature. Beats/drums were provided by the band�s rocket scientist-in-residence Rhys Morgan, while (now Domino artist) Adem and Al from Hot Chip turned in sparkling cameos and latest recruit Simon Lord (once of Simian, latterly of Garden) played bass and sang.

Apron Strings was subtitled �Songs Of False Love And True� which underscores it�s primary concerns: the nadirs, epiphanies and all-round poignancy of love. From the joyous expectation of Come Write Me Down, with its bucolic but loverlorn air, spiralling string lines and declamatory, �that�s where my fancy lies� refrain, all the way to Nancy�s touching, wind-through-the-treetops makeover of Carly Simon�s Why, the album rifles through melodies and love stories from the past, the present and the future, then draws it�s own conclusions.

The songs mix arrangements and bastardisations of traditional pieces (a summery take on the trad� Blackwaterside as beloved of Anne Briggs and Burt Jansch; a genuinely moving take on Irish folk gem Green Grows The Laurel�) with original compositions and unlikely cover versions (the Carly Simon cover, a superb, valedictory swing through Ronnie Lane�s The Poacher) to make music that is both modern and timeless, completely unconstrained by most people�s ideas of �folk music�.

With the gentle might of Agenda/Peacefrog behind them everything is in place to ratchet up the Memory Band�s ever broadening appeal and with the album due for summer 2006 release, they will soon be heading out across the lanes of Britain once again. As we speak they�re appearing as monthly resident at the City Folk nights at The Social in central London - bringing a whiff of summer hedgerow magic to the petrol fume canyons north of Oxford Street.