Remember Remember live at The Chameleon - Photo via Instagram
First up is Kogumaza who have just released their second LP Kолокол and have been busying themselves recently with a few gigs in support of it. The band’s name may relate to a constellation, but their music has a heavy, earthy quality to it. Stood here listening to them tonight you can imagine that this is the kind of noise the earth produces when tectonic plates rub against each other or the sound mountains make as they slowly rise out of the ground.
Slow, twisting, monolithic riffs that moan and groan, and just when you think you have nailed down where they are going the band throw in subtle changes, little shifts in pattern that knock you off your tracks and set you on another course. The three-piece play at bone-rattling volume creating an all engulfing sound that feels almost physical. It’s exhilarating stuff.
As they jam on a version of The Beatles I Want You (She’s So Heavy) gently tearing it apart until there’s nothing left but feedback, it makes you realise that there really isn’t anyone like them, especially in Nottingham, and any chance to catch them playing live is always a thrill and a pleasure with tonight being no exception.
Remember Remember’s latest album Forgetting The Present might be their third full-length release on Mogwai’s Rock Action record label, and upon quick glance they may share a similar aesthetic to their fellow Glaswegian music makers and label bosses, but Remember Remember are an altogether different proposition.
Starting out as a solo project of Graeme Ronald the band has slowly evolved and tonight there are six of them on stage creating a cinematic, widescreen sound that’s part creepy nursery rhyme, part horror film soundtrack. Pianos, guitars, glockenspiel and tightly rhythmic drums are the order of the day and together they create a warm glow that soon finds its groove and transforms a damp Sunday evening into something wonderful. The music is melodic and uplifting in places, yet sadness and dread hang in the air all around it; it’s an intoxicating mix.
The band close their set with the bubbly, almost danceable Purple Phase, followed by the epically haunting Magnets. Graeme from Remember Remember has recently moved to Nottingham, and as Chris from Kogumaza said during their set, we welcome him and hope he find more opportunities to play and make music in the city.
Remember Remember and Kogumaza played at The Chameleon on Sunday 29 June 2014.
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