The Memory Band emerged from the vision of songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Stephen Cracknell, who fused pastoral British folk traditions with subtle electronic textures while acknowledging the rising freak folk movement. Cracknell, once the bassist for Badly Drawn Boy and founder of the Trunk Records imprint, had earlier issued several recordings under the Gorodisch moniker that similarly blended electronic and acoustic folk ingredients. In 2003 he introduced the Memory Band, describing it as “an imaginary group playing music drawn from the collective databank,” a project that existed solely within his computer files. That same year the phantom outfit issued two 7" EPs on Hungry Hill, and much of their content was later repurposed for a self-titled full-length that appeared in 2004. As awareness of the venture grew, Cracknell assembled an actual performing unit that included vocalist Nancy Wallace and fiddler Jennymay Logan; the ensemble soon embarked on favorably received tours throughout the United Kingdom. Work on a follow-up album began in 2006, with the core players augmented in the studio by viola player Rob Springs, bassist Simon Lord of Garden, singer-songwriter Adem, and Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor. The resulting record, Apron Strings, surfaced in late 2006 on Peace Frog Records in the U.K. and Dicristina Stair Builders in the United States.
