Browsing Tag

Sigur Ros

The devil is in the art-rock detail in Outerrings’ latest single, Titan

Posted on 22 July 2023

With a soundscape sweet enough to appease fans of Mogwai, Radiohead, and Sigur Ros, the latest single, Titan, from the Durham-based alt-rock trio, Outerrings, is an ethereal lesson in melodicism.

By using the consistent presence of the gentle yet rhythmically compelling guitar chords as an anchoring point in the release in place of percussion, Titan is as antithetical as alt-rock singles come, but it is all the more mesmerising for it in its reverb-drenched gravitas.

By underpinning the release with the vulnerable fragility of the vocal lines that cry out to those laden with ennui and burden, it is an evocatively artful ride everyone alienated by modern culture will want to strap themselves in for.

Titan was officially released on July 2nd. Hear it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Momento has celestially revived Sigur Ros and Devotcha’s ‘Through The Horizon’

Posted on 23 December 2020

Self-described as ‘Genre-Fluid Performers’, childhood friends Jonathan Chan and Jan Bislin – better known as Momento – are multi-instrumentalists, performers, and composers, specialising in a mixture of original and reworked pop and classical compositions. Here presenting their new single ‘Through The Horizon’, a mixture of Sigur Ros’ ‘Hoppipolla’ and ‘How It Ends’ by Devotchka, the classically trained duo mix electric and acoustic violin performances with sequenced electronic drums and synthesiser parts to create a beautiful, entrancing soundscape that is at once familiar and wholly new.

Already well-established as support for acts as diverse as Tim Minchin, James Blunt, and Gary Barlow, and with over half-a-million YouTube views under their belts – as well as regular headline shows on the streaming platform Sofar Sounds – Jonathan and Jan have here created a beguiling instrumental piece which allows both performers to shine, never overly flashy yet clearly demonstrating their supreme musicianship and arrangement expertise. Based on ‘Through The Horizon’, 2021 should be pretty memorable for Memento.

Check out ‘Through The Horizon’ on YouTube, and follow Memento on Instagram and Facebook.

Review by Alex Holmes