Memory Tapes – “Fallout” (Stereogum Premiere)
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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.”