The lie “Half-Remembered” asks us to believe is that it is cinematic for its ambience and minimalism. This is not the truth. “Half-Remembered” is cinematic for its drama, its likeness to the grandeur of a big screen in a dark room. At the start of Tim Kuhl’s newest track, the second single from the Margaret Glaspy and Sean Lennon drummer’s upcoming album “Sky Valley,” the dripping piano introduces a gentle music in the lineage of film scoring. This gives way to a dark stretch of synth pop, decorated with gloomy vocals from poet Geoffrey Bankowski. It’s the second half of the song that breaks the illusion of minimalism. Kuhl orchestrates his ‘80s instrumentals to a fiery crescendo fueled by post-rock and all the epic drama of the big screen. The track owes as much to the dynamics of Explosions in the Sky or Godspeed! You Black Emperor as it does to the gothic synth pop of John Maus or The Cure. You can listen to “Half-Remembered” below and pre-order “Sky Valley,” due February 23rd, here. Kuhl will perform a string of shows at Pete’s Candy Store as part of an extended five-month residency beginning February 17th. – Cameron Carr, photo by Nathan West
