Rolo Tomassi: When Myth Becomes Memory

- Rolo Tomassi are constantly evolving between records. That may seem like a reductive statement but having followed the Sheffield Group for over ten years at this stage of the game, it's one I'm prepared to back. Each time a new record is released, it feels like a conversation with an old friend who you catch up with every once and a while. Something new has happened for them and you can’t help but beam with pride because of how they’re doing. Long gone are the calamity of angular instruments colliding and ricocheting off each other like multiple crash-test-dummies, super charged by the want to make as much noise as possible. When Myth Becomes Memory takes everything that comes before it and refines it. Those formerly chaotic elements are balanced out with gorgeous atmosphere and contrasted beautifully.

Said atmosphere is delicately drizzled into Almost Always, the album’s opener and indeed longest song. A wash of blackgaze guitars moan away in the background as Eva Spence vocalises over the top. These dreamy moments dissipate into some resplendent, ballad level keys. A serene beginning before trudging up a mountain of dynamics towards an emphatic close. Cloaked follows, bursting from atop that crescendo mountain and bouncing away with chugging riffs. Harsh vocals replace the diaphanous gentle ones.

The five piece have tightened up their attunement to effectively employ dynamics in service to providing these songs definitive sections. The turn-on-a-dime transition from Cloaked to Mutual Rain is millimetre perfect. A single note rings and lulls you into a peaceful state with its constant drone. Once lulled, the aggression breaks out and remains until that single note returns in the mix of more lambent keys. The gentle atmosphere I mentioned in reference to the opener now returns, this time on The Closer. Faint keys are whisked up by some swelling pads and a steady, dichotomous kick. Dual vocals bring in a dreamier aesthetic as contrasting male / female vocals swing in and out. Offset once its over, Drip slides into place as a perfect counterpoint. Shrill feedback whistles under a quickened snare battering, before exploding into full force after a shade over a minute. A descent that feels like the world is ending flings it towards the close, aided greatly by some sparse gang vocals. When Myth Becomes Memory is rounded out by the second longest song on the record, The End of Eternity, a clever way to book end the release. In another case of Rolo Tomassi starting softly, building to a tentpole and then gentle sliding off to a close, it showcases just how well this band know their craft.

Personal bias aside, if you’re wanting to get into Rolo Tomassi, this record will be your gateway drug. There’s enough variety in the form to comprehend the band’s style and it's soothing enough to not overwhelm the listener. There’s certainly more discordant and abrasive music in their discography but much like most people, you refine those things with age and keep the parts that suit you.

- Matt Lynch.