Memphis Graham (2009)

Sadly Memphis Graham have graced us with but a single album along with an EP, both from around the year 2009, and nothing since; almost as if, without leaving a word, they just end up and disappeared. The good news is that both of these presentations are available for your wasted listening pleasure as free nocturnal wonderings on bandcamp.

With the group venturing along the harmonic avenue of neo-psychedelic sounds, they come across as expansive and intoxicatingly fresh, heavily influenced by 60’s jangle pop, along with aspects of hypnotic dream-pop, all delivered in a hauntingly dark and at times almost somber manner, encompassing aspects of droning, though a bit more lively with their translucent gentle vocals. What makes Memphis Graham so delicious is their fusion of these genres and their instrumentations, which includes a sitar along with varied and unexpected percussions, all designed to comfortably embrace you with their creation of an enchanting couch-bound atmosphere laced with Eastern vibes that shimmer down easy.

Whether or not Memphis Graham morphed into the stratosphere, or merely settled onto one of the outer rings of Saturn, they’ve left behind a solid body or work, one I’ll be returning to for quite some time in the future.

Memphis Graham II (2010)

Memphis Graham has bounced back with a significant and simply perfect sonically driven EP destined to dance off your best pair of psychedelic shoes. Here, their sound is wastedly bright and expansive, richly layered, encompassing a variety of wisely and richly used instrumentations, often floating with an Eastern vibe as on on the tracks “Renewal” and “Colour,” both numbers that will have you wondering where this magical band has vanished to … though I’d suggest that they simply wondered off the planet, sparkling into the ether, leaving this bit of hypnotic wanderlust as a calling card, proof that they once drifted among us. I for one am hoping they find their way back to to Terra firma soon, as I’m in need of more.

– Jenell Kesler

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