Memorial Television share their stellar and experimental new EP, The Understanding
Review by Austin Sher
Recently released on August 14th, 2020, Memorial Television are back with their stellar new EP, The Understanding. We thoroughly enjoyed this record and we think you will too! Read on with us as we take a deep dive into our thoughts on the release.
Before we fully get into it, it’s always best to familiarize yourself with the band and the thoughts that went into recording. With that being said, Memorial Television is the work of Andy Rosales. He was born and raised in El Paso, Texas and started crafting indie pop, dream pop, and alternative rock songs back in 2017. Since then he’s released two full length albums, with another one its way by the end of this year.
The EP was written and recorded on and off from September 2019 to June 2020, while also writing songs for the upcoming album, When It's Okay To Ask. The EP is meant to be a precursor to When It's Okay To Ask. "Prodigy" talks about seeing the potential in a close friend to excel and make something great of themselves. "If I Kept Track Of My Mind" speaks of my mental health and anxiety during my senior year of high school and is also on my upcoming album. "Don't Want To Be Alone Without You" is a love song I wrote for my boyfriend. "Genuine Interest" is a song about writing a song. The song speaks of the difference about those who put thoughtful and personal lyrics and songs together versus those who just make music to get rich or don't know what they're doing. Lastly, "Autumn Sun" is on "When It's Okay To Ask" as well and it talks about friendship and the relationships that friendship brings.
The music was inspired by Beach House, Vampire Weekend (specifically their latest album, Father of the Bride), and Talking Heads. While these are the inspirations, we couldn’t help but instantly imagine this being an EP release from Animal Collective. Our first impressions of the album were just how similar the ominous tones and vocal delivery were to a young Avey Tare. Considering Animal Collective is one of our favorite bands of all time, this is some seriously high praise as their music is quite impossible to recreate, let alone find common ground within sound.
Coming in at a track length of 5 and at a runtime of 17 minutes, this was a quick, yet highly enjoyable record to listen to. There’s so much variance in each song, yet it’s extremely cohesive throughout. A nice touch was how effortless each song flows into one another. It’s the little things like that that can really make or break a record, but the close attention to detail always makes us happy.
One thing that we absolutely need to point out is the high quality production value throughout the whole listen. Experiencing the record on a high quality set of headphones or sound system is a must, because without, there are so many key subtleties that you might be missing otherwise. If you’re in the mood for a record that has an indie pop base but dabbles in experimentation, look no further, because The Understanding is what you need in your life.
Additionally, we are thrilled to see what else Memorial Television can put out in 2020. We’re definitely looking forward to the album release later in 2020. For all things Memorial Television, to listen to The Understanding, and to keep up with all future releases and info, please check out the following links below.
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