Memoria – From The Bones (Album – Novoton)
Genre/Influences: Electro-Wave, Electro-Pop, Dark-Wave.
Format: Digital, Vinyl.
Background/Info: More or less four years after the excellent debut-album “Cravings” Swedish Memoria strikes back with new work. The album got preceded by multiple singles. Tess de la Cour (wife of Henric de la Cour) again collaborated with Rikard Lindh (Yvonne).
Content: Just as for “Cravings” there still is an explicit 80s touch running feature although this work sounds maybe more ‘personal’. It takes off with a Cinematic-like opener and next moves into uplifting rhythms and heavenly, female, voices. We next discover Electro-Pop/Wave passages -even reminding early Apoptygma Berzerk, going over into Ethereal/Pop-Wave to finish with a more guitar driven Post-Punk part where vocals are becoming more enraged.
+ + + : Somewhere in between Mother destruction, Siouxsie & The Banshees and Apoptygma Berzerk, Memoria first of all is an artist with an eclectic but very own sound and approach. The songs are moving from dreamy passages into furious parts, from cool Electro-Pop structures into enraged Post-Punk. Different influences are constantly crossing each other. I highly recommend the uplifting “Along The Sea” and the very Electro-like “Girl” but the true and single earworm is the short, and powerful, “Anymore”. It’s the shortest cut from the album featuring only a few repetitive vocal lines but it’s a masterpiece. I would be not surprised the song was originally conceived as a B-side or album-filler (because of the pretty short format of 2 minutes 37) but it’s hit I’ve been listening to in a loop.
– – – : Songs are sometimes a bit short and especially the best cut from the work. But on the other side I prefer a short but brilliant cut to an endless tracklist without substance.
Conclusion: After a great debut-album Memoria only confirms to be a new, great, artist with a very eclectic approach in sound.
Best songs: “Anymore”, “Girl”, “Along The Sea”, “Spiders”, “From The Bones Of The Dead”, “Canary”.
Rate: 8½.
Artist: www.facebook.com/memoriasthlm
Label: www.novoton.se / www.facebook.com/Novoton Read the news on ‘From The Bones’.
About Memoria
Memoria is a Swedish dark-wave and electro-pop project fronted by Tess de la Cour, wife of Henric de la Cour. The project released its debut album, “Cravings”, roughly four years before the follow-up. For the new album, Tess de la Cour again worked with Rikard Lindh of Yvonne. Side-Line announced the album on February 20, 2023 under the title “From The Bones”, following the single “From The Bones Of The Dead” announced on January 16, 2023. Memoria later collaborated with Majestoluxe on the single “Closer”, released May 9, 2025.
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I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.
