Heaven For Real

Kill Your Memory

Mint

LP $16.00

07/15/2016 773871016516

MRL 165

MC $6.75

08/05/2016

MRC 165

MP3 $9.90

07/15/2016 773871016523

FLAC $11.99

07/15/2016 773871016523

Heaven For Real has been fine-tuning their distinct approach to songwriting since 2012. Kill Your Memory, their Mint debut, is a collection of songs brimming with their idiosyncratic brand of maximalist pop music. Equally enamoured with undeniable melodic hooks as they are with unconventional sounds, Heaven For Real emerges as fully formed left-field masters with the unique ability to turn directions on a dime.
Fraternal twin songwriters Mark and Scott Grundy (Quaker Parents /
Monomyth), in tandem with rhythmic partners Cheryl Hann (Old and Weird / Picnicface) and Nathan Doucet (ex-Crosss), spent two years developing their personal musical language. The result of overnight sessions at their local studio (Echo Chamber Audio) and much tinkering out of their Halifax homes, Kill Your Memory marries poetic lyrical narratives with a special blend of experimental rock n’ roll. The album incorporates the adventurousness of jazz and nervous post-punk energy with ornamental touches of tape collage and electronics. Brian Eno would be proud.
The album begins with “Subliminal,” a perfect summation of the band’s creative process. As the music trapezes effortlessly between harmony and dissonance, it mixes the inventive spirit of Os Mutantes and the child-like playfulness of the Elephant Six Collective. Throughout the song, the brothers spur each other on to greater heights as each tries to best the other, posing pointed questions as part of the endless march toward self-perfection.
Title track “Kill Your Memory” serves as the record’s skeleton key. Nervy and lumbering guitar strides until the chorus demands the listener “Kill your memory / Or arm your memory.” This dedication to the concept of utility allows Heaven For Real to make good on their namesake.
Other lyrics explore physical and mental intertwining with a zen-like embrace of change. “Oasis Melting (Visitor on Vacation),” reminiscent of Wire’s 154, turns melting frost on a lamp into an illumination of life’s animating principles. Rollicking beats envision a path populated with wayward travelers in search of momentary homes (“Known Steps In Directions Unknown,” “Hotel #55”), while ghosts of former selves and lovers brush up against their current counterparts (“Smooth Ops,” “Hard Done By”). There are meditations on the intention of one’s actions (“No One Knows Her,” “I’m Sick”) and ultimately acceptance of those actions (“Misfire”). The ring modulators emulate these sudden shifts in perspective, tipping their hat to spiritual forebears Devo. Shades of Sparks’ progressive lean, Daniel Johnston’s earnestness, and Built to Spill’s emotional gravitas mix elsewhere with the unflinching optimism of early Talking Heads. Excited but not hurried, Kill Your Memory is sure-footed music written to a quickened heartbeat in the throes of inspiration.