Memoryhouse became popular seemingly overnight after the indie duo released its debut EP The Years earlier this year. Still in school, Canadians Evan Abeele and Denise Nouvion were overwhelmed by the extremely positive responses to the four-track set that balanced an ambient and pop minimalist sound. Evan was able to chat about the upcoming full-length debut and the influences on music.
How has been working on the full-length been? What can we expect from it?
It's been an interesting process. There is this great fear I have, that if we were left to our own devices, we would get too self-indulgent, or too precious with our recordings; The Years wasn't overstuffed, or excessively worked on, but that was due mostly to a lack of options. Now that we face a little more flexibility with where and how we choose to record, I've found it really crucial to scale things back somewhat.
I want to be able to capture really grand moments, elevating what was really just a blueprint or rough outline on The Years, but everything must remain very deliberate and relatable. It's kind of like writing a novel or sitcom or something, everything we write needs to be believable, though we're always trying to come up with a more nuanced definition for what a "believable" Memoryhouse song is these days. Essentially, I don't want to over-stuff our songs with complicated arrangements and a plethora of instruments just because we can now, we're focused on keeping things really organic.
In a recent interview, you mentioned that you two are using more strings instead of synthesizers. Other than violins and guitars, what strings are you currently using and which strings (or other instruments) would you hope to use in the future?
I was never very good with synths. I'm not very technical with equipment, and truth be told, a lot of what people have come to think as synth sounds on The Years were just heavily processed guitars — an instrument I'm far more comfortable with. There will be synths on our new material, but I like to use them as a way of bringing definition to the more concrete arrangements in the songs; quietly adding texture I suppose.
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