The Memory Band - Never the Same Way Twice (2024) Hi-Res

Never the Same Way Twice is a new album from Stephen Cracknell’s The Memory Band, marking the twentieth anniversary of their debut EP. Cracknell’s curation of these previously unreleased recordings presents a tantalising glimpse of two decades of hauntological and heartfelt collective excursions across time and the ancient and magical British landscape—it’s an irresistible journey.

You never quite know where you are with The Memory Band – it is like the musical equivalent of the first few seconds of wakefulness after a particularly vivid dream. But this is exactly what makes them so special and so interesting. They exist on the margins of folk and electronica, but they manage to bring a touch of the sublime to these liminal states.

A read through the names of collaborators featured across the twelve tracks adds weight to Cracknell’s far-reaching collective vision, and there is no shortage of gems on offer here, including the earliest mix of Calling On, the title track of their debut EP, featuring singers Polly Paulusma and Adem Ilhan from post-rock band Fridge.

Longtime collaborator and fellow traveller Nancy Wallace appears on three tracks, including a cover of Arthur Russell’s This is How We Walk On The Moon. Liam Bailey appears on Children Of The Crows–it was through Stephen that I first heard Bailey (on Demon Days), and his latest album, Zero Grace (a track featured on our Lost in Transmission Mixtape 103), is a tour de force that finds Bailey “impulsively honest without reserve.” Olivia Chaney also delivers an impressive ancient drinking song from the Weyhill Fair on So Fleet Runs The Hart.