Remember Remember – The Quickening

With their 2008 eponymous debut, Remember Remember beautifully encapsulated the sound of glacial, epic orchestrations trapped in the body of one man and his loop pedal. With follow-up The Quickening, the amorphous group sound like a more structured outfit and less a mimicry of a technological recording process.

Centrepiece cuts like Ocean Potion weave and flow in a more organic style than before, playing with pacing and dovetailing eastern and choppy rock styles to hypnotic effect. There are sparser moments too, such as the solitary piano-led A Larger Demon, which brings more character and nuance to the album as a whole, staving off previous, somewhat ironic criticisms of the bands’ repetitive nature.

Yet that propensity remains, curtailed and direct on the likes of upbeat finale John Candy, a fittingly jolly affair of cyclical e-bow guitar lines, toy town electronics and euphoric plateaus. If it ain’t broke, play on. [Darren Carle]