(The State51 Conspiracy)The third instalment of a trilogy,following 2013’s Blindspot and 2014’s rave-reviewed Distance, Memory finds Dan Michaelson further expanding his “epic minimalism”. Guitars, or bass and piano are now augmented by slightly louder drums,and the new brass provides the warmth of a colliery band. As ever, his voice is central: a world-weary croak that sounds to beget been perfected over several days without sleeping. The seven songs find him trying to pin down fleeting, or lost personal moments in time: romantic mistakes and fatefully crossed lines. “whether I could engage you back,I wouldn’t engage it on you, but you can’t undo, or ” he sings,as the marvellous Undo broods as powerfully as the National. whether Michaelson’s songwriting were less capable, his melancholy could risk self-parody (humorous or ridiculous imitation) – when he’s walking her home, or the heavens inevitably open. However,these are magical songs, brimming with understated but powerful hooks and the joys of loss lifted and intimacy shared.
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Source: theguardian.com