Leftfield charts

Review: Memorial Waterslides marks the debut of Memorials, a collaboration between Verity Susman and Matthew Simms, formerly of Electrelane and Wire. This album is a surreal exploration of pop music, blending timeless songwriting with avant-garde sensibilities. Drawing from a wide range of influences from Broadcast and Portishead to Yo La Tengo, Memorials crafts a panoramic soundscape that feels both familiar and refreshingly new. The album's tracks are rich with imagery, evoking visions of a lost future and dreamlike past, each contributing to a swirling, cinematic atmosphere. Produced entirely by Susman and Simms, the record's sound was shaped by their reel-to-reel tape experiments, initially developed for their live performances. This playful and experimental approach results in a engaging mix of psychedelic rock, folk, and analog electronics. Following their successful 2023 soundtracks and a European tour with Stereolab, this a bold and imaginative journey into the unexpected, balancing the esoteric with the melodic.