Nostalgia distorts even the sharpest memories. Lens take rosier hues, crack and splinter, fold in after years spent tucked away. In that sense, “tired in the morning” could stand in as a weathered anecdote, a dusty crystal paperweight from your grandmother’s mantle, the chipped sides and faded print hint at some past glory. Thomas Howard, aka Orchid Mantis, gathers up the shards of his subconscious and turns them into shimmering pop songs. “tired in the morning” is one such mosaic, as warbling tape hiss and reverb as heavy as sleep buries the phobias and narratives underneath. This fractured relic comes from Howard’s upcoming album Kulla Sunset, a living collage of memories named after an impressionable evening at his grandparents’ house in Kulla, Sweden. “In the same way light leaks into a camera, leaving impressions on the film, every instance of my recollection contains traces from the glow of memories past,” he tells me. You can hear that aura here; and no doubt, the rest of Kulla Sunset shall shine with an equally fuzzy halo when it drops next week.
Kulla Sunset is out Mar. 12 via Z Tapes. Pre-orders are available here.
More Info
Bandcamp: orchid-mantis.bandcamp.com
Facebook: @latesummersun
SoundCloud: @orchid_mantis
Twitter: @latesummersun
Tumblr: late-summersun.tumblr.com