Memorials are an electronic duo of Verity Susman and Matthew Simms who make soundtrack music for real and imaginary films.

Somehow this song seems like the perfect soundtrack to a grey January day with the temperature hovering around zero. 

Which is odd as it was recorded at the height of summer in south-west France.

The lyric – “Nothing is exactly as it feels” – only adds to the sense of post-Christmas stasis and winter ennui conjured by the two synth lines that accompany it.

Memorials are a duo of Verity Susman and Matthew Simms (formerly of Electrelane and Wire respectively), whose only previous release was a double album called Music For Film.

This song, Cut Glass Hammer, is the first fruit of a forthcoming second album, All Clouds Bring Not Rain, recorded in a barn deep in the woods somewhere in southwest France.

It was inspired by Yoko Ono’s actual glass hammer on display in her retrospective at Tate Modern, though the video takes a different approach, blending surreal folkloric imagery with a nod to film noir.

The duo spent the first half of 2025 composing the soundtrack to an acclaimed documentary about Kate Bush, and after recording the new album they ended the year touring the USA with Stereolab.

They say they are drawn to recording in the old-fashioned analogue fashion – “both the sound of the equipment used and the choices forced by that equipment” – and they recorded, produced and mixed the album themselves. 

Among the instruments they used were a harpsichord from 4AD’s studio in London and a vibraphone and vintage Leslie speaker in Stereolab drummer Andy Ramsay’s own Press Play studio.

“There wasn’t the option to tinker for ages,” they say. “It was about capturing a moment in time and committing to that. It’s far more satisfying to record sounds that exist in a real space and so become unique to us.”