8/10
Marlophone’s debut album 'Remembered Adventures in Widescale' has the feel of a record constantly trying to make ordinary life look a little larger. Childhood memories, fleeting connections and half-remembered moments are pushed through shimmering guitars, feedback, layered harmonies and restless rhythms until they begin to feel almost cinematic.
That sense of scale arrives immediately on ‘Nintendo Era Hero’, where nostalgia is delivered with enough noise and momentum to keep it from becoming sentimental. Elsewhere, ‘Pencils Drawn at Dawn’ turns small family memories into something quietly affecting, while ‘If We End Up on the Run’ brings a more urgent, escapist energy.
But the record's emotional centrepiece is ‘I Promise It All to You’, featuring Sarah Blasko. Beginning with a much softer touch, the song gradually opens into bent strings, violin and melodic feedback, with Blasko’s vocal adding another layer of warmth to Patrick Haid’s emotive performance. It's a good example of what Marlophone do best across the album: start from something intimate, then slowly widen the frame.
Producer Wayne Connolly helps give that approach plenty of room. The guitars are textured without becoming indistinct, analogue synths sit naturally beneath the arrangements, and the rhythm section keeps the record moving even when the songs become more atmospheric.
There are clear traces of DIIV, Yo La Tengo and The Jesus and Mary Chain in the band’s affection for haze, repetition and guitar noise, but the album still has enough melodic clarity to avoid disappearing into its influences.
By the time ‘I Could Hear It in Your Smile’ arrives, the album has become something much broader and more impactful than a mere collection of nostalgic indie-rock songs. Its post-punk textures and choral sweep give the record a fittingly expansive ending.
Warm, imaginative and full of texture, 'Remembered Adventures in Widescale' is an impressive debut from Marlophone. It finds grandeur in small things, and more importantly, makes those small things feel worth remembering.
