Memory Tapes – “Fallout” (Stereogum Premiere)

Memory Tapes – “Fallout” (Stereogum Premiere)

Dayve Hawk’s musical project Memory Tapes falls squarely into the chillwave designation, the cloudy, destroyed pop subgenre that sparked serious contention during its peak. After what he cites as a series of personal and professional collapses, Hawk is finally back to making music and plans to put out a new full-length album later this year, after scrapping the one he’d been making. Here’s what he said of what he was going through at the time:

I felt pressure to not collapse under my own insecurity with the situation. But with my second daughter becoming a toddler, I’ve found balancing the relationship between my work and my life increasingly difficult. It’s made me question the self-indulgent nature of my music. At a particularly low moment I trashed the entire album I had spent much of the past year working on. I feel like it’s important to just do something and get it out. I’m trying to transition out of my hyper-introverted life.

So at the end of this month he’ll release a two-song digital single, and we’re premiering the first song, “Fallout,” today. Hawk channels Neil Young in vocals that reveal their strain, giving the song a gloomy mood even over bouncy synths and clacking, echoey beats. The frustrated burst of buzzsaw fuzz beginning around 2:34 intensifies the sense of loss and functions as a cathartic release. Listen below.

Memory Tapes is touring this summer, check out the full dates:

07/06 Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
07/7 New Orleans, LA @ Gasa Gasa
07/08 Houston, TX @ Fitzgerald’s Basement
07/09 Dallas, TX @ House of Blues Cambridge Room
07/10 Austin, TX @ Stubbs Jr.
07/11 El Paso, TX @ The Lowbrow Palace
07/12 Phoenix, AZ @ Valley Bar
07/13 San Diego, CA @ Soda Bar
07/14 Los Angeles, CA @ The Roxy
07/15 San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
07/16 Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios
07/17 Seattle, WA @ Barboza
07/20 Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry
07/21 Chicago, IL @ Schuba’s
07/22 Toronto, ON @ The Drake
07/23 Boston, MA @ Great Scott
07/24 Philadelphia, PA @ Boot & Saddle
07/25 Brooklyn, NY @ Baby’s All Right
07/26 Washington, D.C. @ DC9

“Fallout”/”House On Fire” is out 3/31 via Carpark. Pre-order it here for an instant download of “Fallout.”

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