Album Review: Memoryhouse - The Slideshow Effect

Canadian duo Evan Abeele and Denise Nouvion created Memoryhouse as a way to focus their plans for a multimedia art show. The original idea was to match photography, short film and lush soundscapes. The Slideshow Effect clearly betrays its origins. If anything, this is an album of sweet, arty, electro-tinged pop, suffused as it is with dreamy vibes and sweet girl vocals. It could just as easily be the soundtrack to a slow dawdle through a fog-bound autumnal forest. However, despite the promise that the Sub Pop label might suggest, there is nothing much here to inspire. The Slideshow Effect will not be a break-out hit. For all their structured delicacy and dream-pop beauty, Memoryhouse are just another boy/girl duo peddling inoffensive, vaguely pleasant wallpaper.

If that's harsh, it's also fair to say that The Slideshow Effect has countless hooks. The opener, Little Expressionless Animals, is full of head-swaying charm and Heirloom is awash with lovely, chiming guitars and Nouvion's soft, almost sighing vocals. Elsewhere, Abeele's penchant for steel guitar sounds and psychedelic C&W abound. Bonfire typifies the insular, moody nature of his approach; it's like hipsters in Hicksville. Walk With Me sounds a little too Cranberries for its own good but you may still find yourself humming along.

Whatever else they do, Memoryhouse certainly create beautiful backgrounds. Abeele's multi-instrumental sound pictures and Nouvion's floating vocals make for a cosy pop experience. However, despite the shimmering production values and Cocteau Twinsy ethereality, The Slideshow Effect remains largely two-dimensional. Whilst there are plenty of gorgeous moments, they are somewhat scattered – perhaps reflecting the gradual nature of the record's genesis. This is one of those albums that almost bursts through into irresistible beauty but is somehow prevented. Maybe they needed to take more risks.