Rodney Cromwell Details New LP 'Memory Box', Stream "Opus Three"

British indietronica/synthpop/robotpop artist Rodney Cromwell (aka Adam Cresswell) has revealed full details of his new album 'Memory Box'.

The 12-track album was recorded in Cromwell’s home studio in Catford, South London in 2020 & 2021 and was mixed in Brooklyn, New York at ACME Hall Studies by Rich Bennett, it will be out on March 18 via Happy Robots Records. Pre-order your copy here.

Memory Box  fuses a European synthpop sensibility with a world of magical realism.  It was inspired as much by the literature of Alice in Wonderland, Franz Kafka and Anna Kavan, as by its musical influences of artists such as Kraftwerk, Neu!, The Cure, Silver Apples, Oppenheimer Analysis and Polyrock. The sonic pallet of 'Memory Box' is rich, colourful, often surprising and utterly unique.

Opening with two synthpop numbers, the dystopian coldwave of ‘Intercom,’ with its twisted robot voices, that promise us “order will be resumed shortly.” This order comes swiftly in the form of ‘Opus Three’ a pounding dance-floor filler, reminiscent of the best of Vince Clarke, that asks us to dance in the face of "catastrophe".

'Memory Box' mixes synthpop, hauntology, dreampop and European coldwave, using analogue synths and drum machines with minimal computer sequencing. Cromwell creates a distinctive and compelling organic, dream-like world, inspired as much by Alice in Wonderland and Franz Kafka as by sonic influences like Kraftwerk, The Cure, Polyrock and Stereolab.

"At it’s heart, ‘Opus Three’ is the simplest of dance numbers - a full-fat 120 bpm beat, layered with a chunky Moog Opus 3 synth line, overlaid with percussion and the buzzing tones of a 1960’s pocket stylophone. Inspired by Anna Kavan's surreal novel ‘Ice’, this song is about two lovers on the brink of apocalypse, separated by distance and lost in time, trying to find positivity in a world where there is little. “Don’t let it be, catastrophe” repeats the chorus, trying to conjure optimism from somewhere," says Rodney Cromwell (the nom de plume Adam Cresswell).

B-side "Perception Management" is an atmospheric dystopian synth instrumental conveying a sense of ‘post-truth pop’.

Check out the album's tracklist and listen to "Opus Three" below.

Memory Box Tracklist:

01. Intercom

02. Opus Three

03. Memory Box

04. Fluctuations

05. Waiting Room

06. Butterflies In The Filing Cabinet

07. Cloud Catalogue

08. The Small Print

09. The Department Of Public Tranquillity

10. Wristwatch Television

11. Calculations

12. The Winter Palace

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Watch: Rodney Cromwell Airs New Single/Video "Memory Box"

British indietronica/synthpop/robotpop artist Rodney Cromwell (aka Adam Cresswell) has aired the video for his brand new single "Memory Box", his first since 2018.

The song serves as the title track of the forthcoming album 'Memory Box', a mixture of electronic hauntological excursions, dreampop and European coldwave that is scheduled for release in early 2022.  Using analogue synths, drum machines with parts played almost entirely live (with minimal computer sequencing) and vocals recorded without autotune, this record conjures up an organic, albeit dream-like, world that is inspired as much by Alice in Wonderland, Franz Kafka and Anna Kavan as it is by its sonic influences such as Kraftwerk, The Cure and Stereolab. The sonic pallet of 'Memory Box' is both reassuringly familiar and completely distinctive.scheduled for release in early 2022. Get it here.

'Memory Box' is a song about perceptions of reality and the certainty of our memories. How do we believe anything in a world where truth and honesty are of so little worth?  

Speaking about it, Cromwell says: “I wanted the song to have the feel of a marching clockwork toy, so the beat is really simple and metronomic with the synths doing the talking by enveloping the song. At the time I was still disorientated from illness. I turned on the TV and there was Boris Johnson’s lackey, Dominic Cummings, spinning some yarn. In my post-fever state he came across like Wormtongue from Tolkein, talking about riverbanks, woods and castles while literally sat in a perfumed rose garden like in Alice in Wonderland. I wouldn’t say that influenced me directly, but certainly my own state of brain-fog sent my writing off in a more heady and fantastical direction.”

Watch/listen below.

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Watch: Rodney Cromwell Drops Music Video For "Comrades"

British indietronica/synthpop/robotpop artist Rodney Cromwell (aka Adam Cresswell) has dropped the video for his latest single "Comrades".

The song is part of our current playlist and came out last month. It is taken from his upcoming new EP 'Rodney's English Disco', which will be out on May 25 via Happy Robots Records. Pre-order your copy here.

The video was directed by Dariy Karyakin. Take a look below.

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Watch: Rodney Cromwell Shares Music Video For "Barry Was An Arms Dealer"

Rodney Cromwell, the new electronic, robotpop music project from Adam Cresswell, the founding member of indie-folktronica band Saloon and one half of acclaimed electronic two piece Arthur & Martha, has shared the video for his latest single "Barry Was An Arms Dealer".

The song is part of our current playlist and is taken from their upcoming debut LP 'Age of Anxiety', which Malcolm Holmes (Orchestral Manouevres in the Dark) says "sounds like liquid gold" and "has renewed my faith in the digital age of electro pop".

The album will be out on June 25 via Happy Robots Records. Pre-order your copy here.

(facebook.com/rodneycromwellartist)

Tags: Rodney Cromwell