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Collaboration is king. Rodney Cromwell is well aware of this fact, so much so that he is happy to hand over his work to others and allow them to carry on the sonic story. It’s a brave move; not everyone is that trusting, but why assume that just because you instigated a song, it can’t be given a new lease of life, or many lives for that matter, in the hands of other like-minded creatives?
I guess that it is the term “like-minded creatives” that is the key here. Thankfully, Rodney Cromwell knows plenty, and here it is to Solemn Arcade, the musical guise of graphic designer and Happy Robots associate MJ Langthorne, that he looks to write the next sonic chapter of “Memory Box”, the single from the album of the same name.
And he couldn’t have chosen a better person to continue the story. This iteration of “Memory Box” is an anagram of the original, the sound of a song totally taken apart and fitted together so that critical structures are in the right place to build a sonic bridge to the original version, but after that, the song has a complete makeover.
It blends haunting electronica, melancholic whiffs of nostalgia, post-rock free forms, dance grooves, and alt-pop moves into a song which is both a new version of “Memory Box” and a fleeting memory of it.
Music should be an ongoing story; songs don’t have to have a final finished form; indeed, music should evolve or be manipulated by sympathetic remixers and like-minded collaborators if we are to get the most out of it. It’s like watching your favourite child grow into the person you always hoped they would become, the same but different. Better.
Spotify
Apple Music
The Winter Palace Remixes EP
The Winter Palace
Rod, Jane & Freddy
Is This Rodney Cromwell? playlist
