Memorials: Groovy Sophisticates
Words by Mickey McCarter
Photos by Nalinee Darmrong
Memorials brought the atmosphere of a stylish late-1960s film soundtrack to Pie Shop DC on Thursday night, blending space-age lounge pop, experimental psychedelia, and motorik grooves into a set that felt equally suited for a European spy thriller or an underground art-rock club. Throughout the performance, the English duo balanced cool sophistication with mounting rhythms, creating music that drifted between hypnotic beauty and nervous momentum while carrying strong jazz undercurrents beneath the haze.
Memorials centers on vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Verity Susman, formerly of Electrelane, and guitarist/producer Matthew Simms, known for his work with Wire. Their music draws from krautrock, soundtrack jazz, post-punk minimalism, and psychedelic pop, inviting comparisons to Broadcast and Stereolab while sounding distinctly heavier and more improvisational live.
At Pie Shop on May 20, the set leaned heavily on material from 2024’s All Clouds Bring Not Rain, including “In the Weeds,” “Lemon Trees,” “Wildly Remote,” “Dropped Down the Well,” and “Holy Invisible.” But rather than recreate the studio recordings exactly, Memorials treated the songs as frameworks for layered repetition, drifting improvisation, and gradual escalation.
Opening with “Cut Glass Hammer,” the duo quickly established the show’s central dynamic: elegance versus propulsion. Verity’s calm, spectral vocals floated above pulsing rhythms and swirling textures while Matthew layered guitar distortion and hypnotic repetition underneath. The result often recalled the cinematic sophistication of Burt Bacharach or Henry Mancini, filtered perhaps through the relentless forward motion of Can.
Watch the official music video for “Cut Glass Hammer” by Memorials on YouTube:
That retro-futurist tension gave the set its distinctive emotional tone. Memorials frequently sounded like the house band for some lost Cold War-era thriller, full of subtle paranoia and sleek motion. In quieter passages, the duo evoked Broadcast’s haunted psychedelic drift; in louder moments, they locked into the kind of motorik pulse associated with Stereolab’s most rhythmically immersive work.
My colleague Nalinee Darmrong also noted shades of Arthur Brown in the performance, an apt comparison for a band drawing so deeply from late-1960s psychedelic theater and experimental soundtrack culture. At times, Memorials carried that same eerie theatricality — dramatic without becoming excessive, mysterious without losing focus.
The jazz elements running beneath the set became especially apparent during the closing stretch. Memorials approached rhythm with the looseness and patience of a jazz ensemble, allowing grooves to circle and mutate instead of rushing toward resolution. During the final number, “Reimagined River,” Susman picked up a saxophone, pushing the band even further into smoky soundtrack territory as the music dissolved into a swirling blend of drone, repetition and freeform interplay. The moment crystallized the band’s identity perfectly: part psych-rock experiment, part avant-jazz séance, part forgotten 1960s film score.
Pie Shop’s intimate room amplified every detail. The mix remained remarkably clear throughout the set, allowing bass vibrations, hand percussion, tape textures, and drones to fully breathe. Memorials opened space in which the small but attentive crowd could groove along.
Here are some photos of Memorials performing live at Pie Shop DC on May 20, 2026. All pictures copyright and courtesy of Nalinee Darmrong.
