Brighton duo Memorial have shared ‘Rest (& Be Thankful)’, their second release on Ólafur Arnalds’ OPIA Community label, featuring Galway singer-songwriter and favourite Niamh Regan.
The musicians originally connected at Sounds From A Safe Harbour and appeared on the Eoin French Talos tribute song from Arnalds’ ‘We Didn’t Know We Were Ready’ last year.
The song grew from a period of accumulated exhaustion rather than a clear creative intention – an intense run of making music and touring that had blurred into something neither Jack Watts nor Oliver Spalding had fully reckoned with. During that time, Jack found himself at a valley in Scotland called Rest and Be Thankful. The name stayed with him. It felt like a natural closing chapter.
The track came together quickly in a session with Dan Rothman (London Grammar) and Seth Tackleberry (Holly Humberstone). Jack was handed a guitar in an unfamiliar tuning while Oliver moved to drums and the foundation revealed itself within the first half hour. The result feels like watching a blurred landscape pass from a car window – a steady driving rhythm throughout, shifting vocals and layered harmonies building toward a final release carried by Ben Bishop’s atmospheric guitar.
Niamh Regan’s presence came from their first meeting and from having toured together and when the song began to take shape her voice was the only one they could hear on it.
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Memorial on the track: “The song feels like it arrived gently but carried everything we had been ignoring. Only after finishing it did we understand its meaning. It became a reminder to trust your intuition, even when you feel uncertain.”
‘Rest (& Be Thankful)’ is out now on OPIA Community.
Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005. He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Cara Magazine, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, co-founder of Lumo Club, event curator, Indie Sleaze club promoter, and producer of gigs and monthly listening parties & events in Dublin.
