The Hot 100 2011 - No. 32: Remember Remember interview
Graeme Ronald’s complex compositions get the full-band treatment
Return to The Hot 100 2011: The definitive list of Scottish creative talent
‘Steve Reich on acid,’ is how one List critic described Graeme Ronald’s second album as Remember Remember, released this year. True, it has Reich’s trademark repetition – albeit combined with melodies that could only be Scottish – but Ronald is unsure of that particular description. ‘I’ve never met Steve Reich when he’s been on acid,’ he laughs, ‘so I couldn’t say.’
The Quickening comprises eight tracks of joyful, wordless music, that reach loftier highs even that Remember Remember’s http://www.list.co.uk/article/14334-remember-remember-remember-remember/. The difference is that, whereas that first release was a solo project, a full band now plays Ronald’s complex compositions. They are ‘musicians who I first and foremost liked personally,’ he explains – important given the amount of time he has to spend with them in a back of a van.
The band have bought Ronald two placings in our end-of-year ‘best of’ lists: one for the album and one for their gig at Glasgow Science Centre’s Planetarium in October. Squeezed onto a tiny stage usually reserved for a single man with a laser pen, the band played in darkness as the stars revolved overhead. It was a magical and suitably spacey occasion, and ‘the closest we’ll ever get to being Pink Floyd,’ according to Ronald.
Though he probably deserved to reach a greater audience in 2011, having Ronald and co around to play tiny Science Centre gigs makes The List very happy. Though we, and the rest of his fans, did miss out on his annual 5 November birthday party show this year:
‘My girlfriend’s from Saint Louis in Missouri, so this year we went over to visit her family. Being away on my birthday was kind of weird, but I made up for it by buying $200 worth of really serious American fireworks and having an illicit fireworks display on the banks of the Mississippi.’
See our original reviews of The Quickening and the Planetarium gig.
Return to The Hot 100 2011: The definitive list of Scottish creative talent