Memotone and Soosh is a collaborative project between William Yates (Memotone) and Soroosh Khavari (Soosh), and Memoosh is an album that was constructed during eight weekends spread throughout a year. There’s no thematic approach to this album of electronica. Instead, the album is, according to the label website, “a mixture of live instrumentation (guitars, piano, cello, zither, drums, clarinet, synths and numerous others) coupled with effect boxes, samplers, vocals and field recordings, influenced by everything from random static and buzz, to a beautiful early morning rain or the bass thud of a closing door”. That makes Memoosh a record for the brain as much as it may tug on your emotions. There’s a cerebral nature to this music, and it may cause you to pause and really think about where you are in your surroundings. The sound of this album is lilting and chilled out, and if you’re looking for a Zen moment, this may be the record for you.
Things kick off with “The Roofwalker”, which is notable that it builds and builds into a tiny crescendo of layered sounds. “The Building with the Blue Eyes” begins with fuzzy static, before delving briefly into the world of Gregorian chant in the background. “This Hush” has a welcoming vinyl crackle happening, as though the outfit is using a sample to create downtempo jazzy music, before sung vocals in the foreground (the only time they appear on the album) start in. And those are the first three tracks. However, the nature of experimentation tends to take a backseat as the album progresses, and the numbers seem or at least feel much more by the book for electronica. That’s not to say that the rest of the album is bad; it just feels more ordinary and doesn’t reach for the same storied heights. Still, Memoosh is an interesting listen, and as a pure soundtrack to the quieter moments of your life, it succeeds aplenty. The album is one of meditation, so the next time you go to practice yoga, you’ll probably want to bring this with you. Memoosh is, in short, thinking person’s music.