UK electronic producer RODNEY CROMWELL present collaborative single 'Memory Box (Solemn Arcade Revision)'

June 8, 2023

"A magical-realist synthpop collage" ~ Bandcamp Daily

"Rodney Cromwell is one of the world’s leading lights of retro-future synthpop" ~ The Spill Magazine

"Motorik mechanisation within a hypnotic electronic backdrop...Glorious" ~ Electricity Club.co.uk

"Delicious Melodies that are both simple and direct" ~ HI-FI World

"Buoyant" 4/5 ~ Shindig! Magazine

"Glorious pure synthpop... one of the most innovative, enjoyable electronic acts around" ~ XS Noise

Modern London synthpop icon Rodney Cromwell (a.k.a. Adam Cresswell of 90s indie folk band Saloon and 2000s electronic duo Arthur & Martha) and Solemn Arcade have teamed up to present ‘Memory Box’ Solemn Arcade Revision.

This is the debut release by Solemn Arcade, the musical guise of graphic designer and Happy Robots associate MJ Langthorne. Hauntology, post-rock and electronica collide in a mesmerizing reimagining of the title track from Rodney Cromwell's 'Memory Box' album.

'Memory Box' delves into the complexities of perception and the unreliability of our memories. How can we trust anything in a world where truth and honesty hold such little value? This hauntingly psychedelic song draws inspiration not only from the lucid dreamlike qualities of Marcel Proust’s writing and Enid Blyton's 'Faraway Tree' stories, but also from sonic pioneers like Broadcast, Movietone and Silver Apples.

Solemn Arcade embarks on a complete deconstruction of the original version of 'Memory Box', presenting a recontextualized version that strips away the vocals and immerses the song within a lo-fi, discordant sonic landscape. The listener is enveloped in a tapestry of atmospheric textures and electronic tones, as haunting synthesizers intertwine with reverberating guitars and feedback, creating an otherworldly soundscape that shimmers and evolves with each play.

This single follows Rodney Cromwell's recently-released 'The Winter Palace Remixes' EP, also released via London label Happy Robots Records.

'Memory Box - Solemn Arcade Revision' https://open.spotify.com/track/0mA4oz4uGcDDrswc86RDFX

Since debuting with the 'Age of Anxiety' album, Cromwell has been featured in NME, Electronic Sound, Huffington Post, Paste, Shindig!, Louder Than War, The Big Takeover, Magic RPM, Post-Punk.com and Bandcamp Daily. National radio play includes BBC 6 Music in the UK, RTE in Ireland, airplay in Tokyo, and RNE3 in Spain, for whom he also recorded a live session.

Rodney Cromwell live is a joyful mixed-media extravaganza, incorporating analogue synths, video visuals and live instrumentation, interjected by Rodney’s 'offbeat wit'' (NME). He has shared the stage with icons such as A Flock of Seagulls, Damo Suzuki, Pram, Death & Vanilla, Rowetta, M!R!M and Steve Davis. In 2022, he recorded a live session for Electronic Sound and supported Blancmange on a number of dates, further cementing his reputation as one of the most exciting live acts on the electronic music scene.

As of June 7, 'Memory Box - Solemn Arcade Revision' is available everywhere, including Spotify, Apple Music and Bandcamp. This month also brings Cromwell's debut UK headline tour, accompanied by NYC's Roman Angelos in support of his newly-released 'Supermarkets, Underwater' album with Scott Solter (St. Vincent, Spoon, Superchunk, The Mountain Goats). Get tickets at www.happyrobots.co.uk/tickets

London synthpop artist Rodney Cromwell releases loaded retrowave 'Memory Box' LP and 'Opus Three' video

March 18, 2022

"Rodney Cromwell's music belongs to the future" ~ NME

"Yanking the mundane into the sublime. Its sweeping synths transverse a sonic landscape bridging an ancient sentiment and an almost folk instrumentation with pure hertz tone glory" ~ Post-Punk.com

“His new lo-fi disco laments are joyfully simple and painfully funny” ~ Huffington Post

"Makes a delightful lo-fi synthpop racket with a load of old gear and a deep appreciation of classic outfits" ~ Electronic Sound

"One of the most infectious numbers of this young year... bewitchingly brilliant... one of the most inventive and idiosyncratic musicians out there" ~ Stereo Embers Magazine

"Cool-flowing retro synth delight" ~ The Spill Magazine

“A reminder of good pop tunes from a magical era” ~ Louder Than War

London-based indietronica artist Rodney Cromwell has released his 'Memory Box' album via Happy Robots Records, as well as a video for the ‘Opus Three’ single. Rodney Cromwell (the nom de plume Adam Cresswell) was founding member of indie-folktronica band Saloon (who had four entries in John Peel’s Festive 50 & recorded three Peel Sessions) and also one half of acclaimed electronic duo Arthur & Martha.

In this 12-track solo offering, he presents a sonic pallet that is rich, colourful, often surprising and utterly unique. Mixed and co-produced by Richard Bennett at Acme Hall Studios (New York) and mastered by Pete Maher (U2, Goldfrapp, Paul Weller, Pixies), the 'Memory Box' album mixes synthpop, hauntology, dreampop and European coldwave, using analogue synths and drum machines with minimal computer sequencing. Cromwell creates a distinctive and compelling organic, dream-like world, inspired as much by Alice in Wonderland and Franz Kafka as by its sonic influences - artists including Kraftwerk, The Cure, Polyrock and Stereolab.

Opening with two synthpop numbers, the dystopian coldwave of ‘Intercom’ - with its twisted robot voices - promises us “order will be resumed shortly.” Order comes swiftly in the form of ‘Opus Three;’ a pounding dance-floor filler, reminiscent of the best of Vince Clarke, encouraging us to dance in the face of catastrophe.

Title-track ‘Memory Box' is a haunting trip down a psychological rabbit-hole of half-remembered memories and half-formed truths with sweeping synths traversing a sonic landscape, turning the mundane into the sublime. The album’s central songs plunge us deeper into this theme with almost Kafkaesque abandon. ‘Fluctuations’ is a pounding krautrock number about the dangers of TV shopping and ‘Waiting Room’ a love song for exhausted souls. The uplifting glam-stomp of ‘Wristwatch Television’ looks towards the utopian future promised in 1950’s style magazines, but never delivered.

'Calculations' a melodica-driven dreampop instrumental, melds Brian Eno with Mogwai, pulling us back towards reality. The album closes with its purest synthpop number, ‘The Winter Palace', layered with ice-cool ARP synth strings, the thinnest of vintage drums and lush harmonies, as Cromwell sings of a love bound by ‘drudgeries hold’.

His debut 'Age of Anxiety' LP (2015) and 'Rodney's English Disco' EP (2018) garnered Rodney Cromwell features in Electronic Sound Magazine, NME, Huffington Post, Record Collector, Paste, BBC6 Music and national RNE3 in Spain, for whom he recorded a live session. The album featured in scores of 'Best of' lists, including Electronic Sound and The Electricity Club, who named him 'Most Promising New Act'. He has played lives shows with acts like Pram, Death & Vanilla, M!R!M, Rowetta and Steve Davis. In 2020, he also performed as part of Damo Suzuki of Can’s backing band.

Earlier, the lead single 'Memory Box' was voted by fans into the Dandelion Radio Official Festive 50. Both tracks received press and radio coverage in multiple countries with national radio play in Japan, Finland and Spain, as well as multiple spins on BBC 6 Music.

The 'Memory Box' LP is out now via Happy Robots Records with distribution by Cargo Records. Available on yellow vinyl, it can also be obtained in stores and digitally from all major platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music and Bandcamp.

CREDITS
Written and recorded by Adam Cresswell
Mixed & co-produced by Richard Bennett at Acme Hall Studios, NYC
Mastered by Pete Maher
Album artwork by Martin J Langthorne

London indietronica artist Rodney Cromwell set to release 'Memory Box' album March 18. Watch the video for 'Opus Three'

March 15, 2022

'Memory Box' - the new album by London-based indietronica artist Rodney Cromwell - will be released on March 18 via Happy Robots Records, presenting a sonic pallet that is rich, colourful, often surprising and utterly unique. Ahead of this, Rodney Cromwell (the nom de plume Adam Cresswell), presents the video for ‘Opus Three’.

Mixed and co-produced by Richard Bennett at Acme Hall Studios (New York) and mastered by Pete Maher (U2, Goldfrapp, Paul Weller, Pixies), the 'Memory Box' album' mixes synthpop, hauntology, dreampop and European coldwave, using analogue synths and drum machines with minimal computer sequencing. Cromwell creates a distinctive and compelling organic, dream-like world, inspired as much by Alice in Wonderland and Franz Kafka as by its sonic influences - artists including Kraftwerk, The Cure, Polyrock and Stereolab.

Opening with two synthpop numbers, the dystopian coldwave of ‘Intercom’ - with its twisted robot voices - promises us “order will be resumed shortly.” Order comes swiftly in the form of ‘Opus Three;’ a pounding dance-floor filler, reminiscent of the best of Vince Clarke, encouraging us to dance in the face of catastrophe.

Title-track ‘Memory Box' is a haunting trip down a psychological rabbit-hole of half-remembered memories and half-formed truths with sweeping synths traversing a sonic landscape, turning the mundane into the sublime. The album’s central songs plunge us deeper into this theme with almost Kafkaesque abandon. ‘Fluctuations’ is a pounding krautrock number about the dangers of TV shopping and ‘Waiting Room’ a love song for exhausted souls. The uplifting glam-stomp of ‘Wristwatch Television’ looks towards the utopian future promised in 1950’s style magazines, but never delivered.

'Calculations' a melodica-driven dreampop instrumental, melds Brian Eno with Mogwai, pulling us back towards reality. The album closes with its purest synthpop number, ‘The Winter Palace', layered with ice-cool ARP synth strings, the thinnest of vintage drums and lush harmonies, as Cromwell sings of a love bound by ‘drudgeries hold’.

His debut 'Age of Anxiety' LP (2015) and 'Rodney's English Disco' EP (2018) garnered Rodney Cromwell features in Electronic Sound Magazine, NME, Huffington Post, Record Collector, Paste, BBC6 Music and national RNE3 in Spain, for whom he recorded a live session. The album featured in scores of 'Best of' lists, including Electronic Sound and The Electricity Club, who named him 'Most Promising New Act'. He has played lives shows with acts like Pram, Death & Vanilla, M!R!M, Rowetta and Steve Davis. In 2020, he also performed as part of Damo Suzuki of Can’s backing band.

Earlier, the lead single 'Memory Box' was voted by fans into the Dandelion Radio Official Festive 50. Both tracks received press and radio coverage in multiple countries with national radio play in Japan, Finland and Spain, as well as multiple spins on BBC 6 Music.

The 'Memory Box' LP is out on March 18 via Happy Robots Records with distribution by Cargo Records. Distributed by Cargo Records, it will be available on yellow vinyl LP, and in stores and digitally on all the major platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music and Bandcamp.

CREDITS
Written and recorded by Adam Cresswell
Mixed & co-produced by Richard Bennett at Acme Hall Studios, NYC
Mastered by Pete Maher
Album artwork by Martin J Langthorne
Released via Happy Robots Records

London synthpop artist Rodney Cromwell releases 'Memory Box' EP with remixes by MOOD TAEG (Düsseldorf / Shanghai) & UK synthwavers AUW

January 11, 2022

"Rodney Cromwell's music belongs to the future" ~ NME

"This music is based on our common human experience, with all its joys, quirks and misgivings. A brilliant track – thank you Rodney Cromwell. We’ll take a dish of your cool-flowing retro synth delight with pleasure" ~ THE SPILL MAGAZINE

"Yanking the mundane into the sublime. Its sweeping synths transverse a sonic landscape bridging an ancient sentiment and an almost folk instrumentation with pure hertz tone glory" ~ POST-PUNK.COM

“His new lo-fi disco laments are joyfully simple and painfully funny” ~ HUFFINGTON POST

"Makes a delightful lo-fi synthpop racket with a load of old gear and a deep appreciation of classic outfits" ~ ELECTRONIC SOUND

“A reminder of good pop tunes from a magical era” ~ LOUDER THAN WAR

London-based synthpop artist Rodney Cromwell has released his new 'Memory Box' EP, a 4-track offering that includes the original version of 'Memory Box', plus the ambient track 'Memory Stops', plus two strikingly different remixes. This is the first music Cromwell has released in 2 1/2 years.

This song about our perceptions of reality and the certainty of our memories lends to the question "How do we believe anything in a world where truth and honesty are of so little worth?"

Düsseldorf / Shanghai krautrock band MOOD TAEG offer a discordant re-interpretation reminiscent of the avant-pop of Stereolab or the European coldwave of Ladytron. The second mix, by Retrosynth Records artist AUW, is slice of dark synthwave, pitched somewhere between Kavinsky and Pye Corner Audio.

Rodney Cromwell is the nom de plume of Adam Cresswell, founding member of 1990s-2000s indie-folktronica band Saloon (who had four entries in John Peel’s Festive 50, recorded three Peel Sessions and had top 10 album of the year in The Sunday Times) and one half of electronic two-piece Arthur & Martha (praised by the likes of NME, The Guardian and Artrocker).

With minimal percussion, Rodney Cromwell's lyrics float over a bed of vintage synthesizers and effected guitar. Shunning a clean '80s synth sound, the song is almost psychedelic in outlook, reminiscent of the minimal synth of acts such as Broadcast, Pram or Silver Apples. The video, an atmospheric montage of heavily effected and distorted shots of rural Britain, was inspired by film auteurs such as Stan Brakhage and Chris Marker.

Writing and recording in his home studio in Catford, South London, Cromwell employs an old-school approach using predominantly vintage hardware. Mixed and co-produced by Richard Bennett at Acme Hall Studios (New York) and mastered by Pete Maher (U2, Goldfrapp, Paul Weller, Pixies, The Alarm), Martin J Langthorne, who also designed the album artwork, contributes guitar.

"It was one of the first songs written for the new album. At the time I was still disorientated from illness. I turned on the TV and there was Boris Johnson’s lackey, Dominic Cummings, spinning some yarn. In my post-fever state he came across like Wormtongue from Tolkein, talking about riverbanks, woods and castles while literally sitting in a perfumed rose garden like in Alice in Wonderland. I wouldn’t say that influenced me directly, but certainly my own state of brain-fog sent my writing off in a more heady and fantastical direction," explains Adam Cromwell.

"I wanted the song to have the feel of a marching clockwork toy, so the beat is really simple and metronomic with the synths doing the talking by enveloping the song."

On February 21, Rodney Cromwell will release the full-length ‘Memory Box' album, a mixture of electronic hauntological excursions, dreampop and European coldwave. Using analogue synths, drum machines with parts played almost entirely live (with minimal computer sequencing) and vocals recorded without autotune, this record conjures up an organic, albeit dream-like, world that is inspired as much by Alice in Wonderland, Franz Kafka and Anna Kavan as it is by its sonic influences such as Kraftwerk, The Cure and Stereolab. The sonic pallet of 'Memory Box' is both reassuringly familiar and completely distinctive.

Rodney Cromwell's debut LP 'Age of Anxiety' (2015) and 'Rodney's English Disco' EP (2018) have garnered Rodney Cromwell features in Electronic Sound Magazine, NME, Huffington Post, Paste, Record Collector, BBC6 Music and national RNE3 in Spain, for whom he also recorded a live session. The debut album featured in scores of Best of Lists including Electronic Sound Magazine and he was named 'Most Promising New Act' by The Electricity Club. He has appeared on compilations alongside Cavern of Anti-Matter, John Foxx, Devo, OMD, Katy Perry and other notable artists.

Rodney will be playing a handful of live dates to support the album's release. His debut festival appearance at Indietracks 2015, described as 'a spiritual experience", led to further festival appearances in the UK and in Spain, in addition to supporting artists such as Pram, Marsheaux, Death & Vanilla, Rowetta and Steve Davis. In 2020, he also performed as part of Damo Suzuki's band.

The 'Memory Box' EP is out now digitally via Happy Robots Records with distribution by Cargo Records. In mid-December, Cromwell also released 'Get Me To Prague' on 7" vinyl, which sold out in just a day. Find both of these releases on Spotify, Apple Music or obtain them directly from the artist via Bandcamp.

MEMORY BOX CREDITS
Written and recorded by Adam Cresswell
Martin J Langthorne - guitar on 'Memory Box'
Mixed and co-produced by Richard Bennett at Acme Hall Studios, New York
Mastered by Pete Maher
Album artwork by Martin J Langthorne
Remixes by Mood Taeg and AUW
Released via Happy Robots Records

Keep up with Rodney Cromwell
Website | Bandcamp | Facebook | Twitter | Soundcloud | YouTube | Spotify | Apple Music | Amazing Radio | Booking contact | Press contact

Keep up with Happy Robots Records
Website | Bandcamp | Facebook | Twitter | Soundcloud | YouTube

London synthpop artist Rodney Cromwell 'Memory Box' maxi-single is out November 17. Features remixes by MOOD TAEG (Düsseldorf / Shanghai) & UK synthwavers AUW

November 16, 2021

On November 17, London-based synthpop artist Rodney Cromwell will release two remixes of his new 'Memory Box' single via Happy Robots Records with distribution by Cargo Records. Presented as a 4-track offering together with the original version and the ambient track ''Memory Stops', this is the first music from Cromwell in 2 1/2 years.

'Memory Box' is a song about perceptions of reality and the certainty of our memories. How do we believe anything in a world where truth and honesty are of so little worth?

The first remix is a reimagining by Düsseldorf / Shanghai krautrock band MOOD TAEG, whose discordant re-interpretation is reminiscent of the avant-pop of Stereolab or the European coldwave of Ladytron. The second mix, by Retrosynth Records artist AUW, is slice of dark synthwave, pitched somewhere between Kavinsky and Pye Corner Audio.

Rodney Cromwell is the nom de plume of Adam Cresswell, founding member of 1990s-2000s indie-folktronica band Saloon (who had four entries in John Peel’s Festive 50, recorded three Peel Sessions and had top 10 album of the year in The Sunday Times) and one half of electronic two-piece Arthur & Martha (praised by the likes of NME, The Guardian and Artrocker).

With minimal percussion, Rodney Cromwell's lyrics float over a bed of vintage synthesizers and effected guitar. Shunning a clean '80s synth sound, the song is almost psychedelic in outlook, reminiscent of the minimal synth of acts such as Broadcast, Pram or Silver Apples. The video, an atmospheric montage of heavily effected and distorted shots of rural Britain, was inspired by film auteurs such as Stan Brakhage and Chris Marker.

Writing and recording in his home studio in Catford, South London, Cromwell employs an old-school approach using predominantly vintage hardware. Mixed and co-produced by Richard Bennett at Acme Hall Studios (New York) and mastered by Pete Maher (U2, Goldfrapp, Paul Weller, Pixies, The Alarm), Martin J Langthorne, who also designed the album artwork, contributes guitar.

"It was one of the first songs written for the new album. At the time I was still disorientated from illness. I turned on the TV and there was Boris Johnson’s lackey, Dominic Cummings, spinning some yarn. In my post-fever state he came across like Wormtongue from Tolkein, talking about riverbanks, woods and castles while literally sitting in a perfumed rose garden like in Alice in Wonderland. I wouldn’t say that influenced me directly, but certainly my own state of brain-fog sent my writing off in a more heady and fantastical direction," explains Adam Cromwell.

"I wanted the song to have the feel of a marching clockwork toy, so the beat is really simple and metronomic with the synths doing the talking by enveloping the song."

This single is the title track of the forthcoming ‘Memory Box' album, A mixture of electronic hauntological excursions, dreampop and European coldwave that is scheduled for release in early 2022. Using analogue synths, drum machines with parts played almost entirely live (with minimal computer sequencing) and vocals recorded without autotune, this record conjures up an organic, albeit dream-like, world that is inspired as much by Alice in Wonderland, Franz Kafka and Anna Kavan as it is by its sonic influences such as Kraftwerk, The Cure and Stereolab. The sonic pallet of 'Memory Box' is both reassuringly familiar and completely distinctive.

Rodney Cromwell's debut LP 'Age of Anxiety' (2015) and 'Rodney's English Disco' EP (2018) have garnered Rodney Cromwell features in Electronic Sound Magazine, NME, Huffington Post, Paste, Record Collector, BBC6 Music and national RNE3 in Spain, for whom he also recorded a live session. The debut album featured in scores of Best of Lists including Electronic Sound Magazine and he was named 'Most Promising New Act' by The Electricity Club. He has appeared on compilations alongside Cavern of Anti-Matter, John Foxx, Devo, OMD, Katy Perry and other notable artists.

Rodney will be playing a handful of live dates to support the album's release. His debut festival appearance at Indietracks 2015, described as 'a spiritual experience", led to further festival appearances in the UK and in Spain, in addition to supporting artists such as Pram, Marsheaux, Death & Vanilla, Rowetta and Steve Davis. In 2020, he also performed as part of Damo Suzuki's backing band.

As of November 17, the 'Memory Box' maxi-single will be available digitally, including on Spotify, Apple Music and directly from the artist via Bandcamp.

Keep up with Rodney Cromwell
Website | Bandcamp | Facebook | Twitter | Soundcloud | YouTube | Spotify | Apple Music | Amazing Radio | Booking contact

Keep up with Happy Robots Records
Website | Bandcamp | Facebook | Twitter | Soundcloud | YouTube

London synthpop artist Rodney Cromwell releases 'Memory Box' single. New LP coming February 2021

October 27, 2021

"Rodney Cromwell's music belongs to the future" ~ NME

"Yanking the mundane into the sublime. Its sweeping synths transverse a sonic landscape bridging an ancient sentiment and an almost folk instrumentation with pure hertz tone glory" ~ POST-PUNK.COM

“His new lo-fi disco laments are joyfully simple and painfully funny” ~ HUFFINGTON POST

"Makes a delightful lo-fi synthpop racket with a load of old gear and a deep appreciation of classic outfits" ~ ELECTRONIC SOUND

“A reminder of good pop tunes from a magical era” ~ LOUDER THAN WAR

After a 2 1/2 year hiatus, London-based synthpop artist Rodney Cromwell will be releasing a new single via Happy Robots Records with distribution by Cargo Records. 'Memory Box' is a song about perceptions of reality and the certainty of our memories. How do we believe anything in a world where truth and honesty are of so little worth?

Rodney Cromwell is the nom de plume of Adam Cresswell, founding member of 1990s-2000s indie-folktronica band Saloon (who had four entries in John Peel’s Festive 50, recorded three Peel Sessions and had top 10 album of the year in The Sunday Times) and one half of electronic two-piece Arthur & Martha (praised by the likes of NME, The Guardian and Artrocker).

With minimal percussion, Rodney Cromwell's lyrics float over a bed of vintage synthesizers and effected guitar. Shunning a clean '80s synth sound, the song is almost psychedelic in outlook, reminiscent of the minimal synth of acts such as Broadcast, Pram or Silver Apples. The video, an atmospheric montage of heavily effected and distorted shots of rural Britain, was inspired by film auteurs such as Stan Brakhage and Chris Marker.

Writing and recording in his home studio in Catford, South London, Cromwell employs an old-school approach using predominantly vintage hardware. Mixed and co-produced by Richard Bennett at Acme Hall Studios (New York) and mastered by Pete Maher (U2, Goldfrapp, Paul Weller, Pixies, The Alarm), Martin J Langthorne, who also designed the album artwork, contributes guitar.

"It was one of the first songs written for the new album. At the time I was still disorientated from illness. I turned on the TV and there was Boris Johnson’s lackey, Dominic Cummings, spinning some yarn. In my post-fever state he came across like Wormtongue from Tolkein, talking about riverbanks, woods and castles while literally sitting in a perfumed rose garden like in Alice in Wonderland. I wouldn’t say that influenced me directly, but certainly my own state of brain-fog sent my writing off in a more heady and fantastical direction," explains Adam Cromwell.

"I wanted the song to have the feel of a marching clockwork toy, so the beat is really simple and metronomic with the synths doing the talking by enveloping the song."

This single is the title track of the forthcoming ‘Memory Box' album, A mixture of electronic hauntological excursions, dreampop and European coldwave that is scheduled for release in early 2022. Using analogue synths, drum machines with parts played almost entirely live (with minimal computer sequencing) and vocals recorded without autotune, this record conjures up an organic, albeit dream-like, world that is inspired as much by Alice in Wonderland, Franz Kafka and Anna Kavan as it is by its sonic influences such as Kraftwerk, The Cure and Stereolab. The sonic pallet of 'Memory Box' is both reassuringly familiar and completely distinctive.

Rodney Cromwell's debut LP 'Age of Anxiety' (2015) and 'Rodney's English Disco' EP (2018) have garnered Rodney Cromwell features in Electronic Sound Magazine, NME, Huffington Post, Paste, Record Collector, BBC6 Music and national RNE3 in Spain, for whom he also recorded a live session. The debut album featured in scores of Best of Lists including Electronic Sound Magazine and he was named 'Most Promising New Act' by The Electricity Club. He has appeared on compilations alongside Cavern of Anti-Matter, John Foxx, Devo, OMD, Katy Perry and other notable artists.

Rodney will be playing a handful of live dates to support the album's release. His debut festival appearance at Indietracks 2015, described as 'a spiritual experience", led to further festival appearances in the UK and in Spain, in addition to supporting artists such as Pram, Marsheaux, Death & Vanilla, Rowetta and Steve Davis. In 2020, he also performed as part of Damo Suzuki's backing band.

As of October 27, 'Memory Box' will be available digitally everywhere, including Spotify and Apple Music. In the meantime, it can be pre-ordered directly from the artist via Bandcamp. On October 28, London's Hope & Anchor will host his Single Launch Party with appearances by Mood Taeg and Still Forever.

CREDITS
Written and recorded by Adam Cresswell
Martin J Langthorne - guitar on 'Memory Box'
Mixed and co-produced by Richard Bennett at Acme Hall Studios, New York
Mastered by Pete Maher
Album artwork by Martin J Langthorne

Keep up with Rodney Cromwell
Website | Bandcamp | Facebook | Twitter | Soundcloud | YouTube | Spotify | Apple Music | Amazing Radio | Booking contact | Press contact

Keep up with Happy Robots Records
Website | Bandcamp | Facebook | Twitter | Soundcloud | YouTube

London synthpop artist RODNEY CROMWELL (Saloon, Arthur & Martha) presents 'Memory Box' single

October 5, 2021

Rodney Cromwell is the nom de plume of Adam Cresswell, founding member of 1990s-2000s indie-folktronica band Saloon (who had four entries in John Peel’s Festive 50, recorded three Peel Sessions and had top 10 album of the year in The Sunday Times) and one half of electronic two-piece Arthur & Martha (praised by the likes of NME, The Guardian and Artrocker).

With minimal percussion, Rodney Cromwell's lyrics float over a bed of vintage synthesizers and effected guitar. Shunning a clean '80s synth sound, the song is almost psychedelic in outlook, reminiscent of the minimal synth of acts such as Broadcast, Pram or Silver Apples. The video, an atmospheric montage of heavily effected and distorted shots of rural Britain, was inspired by film auteurs such as Stan Brakhage and Chris Marker.

Writing and recording in his home studio in Catford, South London, Cromwell employs an old-school approach using predominantly vintage hardware. Mixed and co-produced by Richard Bennett at Acme Hall Studios (New York) and mastered by Pete Maher (U2, Goldfrapp, Paul Weller, Pixies, The Alarm), Martin J Langthorne, who also designed the album artwork, contributes guitar.

"It was one of the first songs written for the new album. At the time I was still disorientated from illness. I turned on the TV and there was Boris Johnson’s lackey, Dominic Cummings, spinning some yarn. In my post-fever state he came across like Wormtongue from Tolkein, talking about riverbanks, woods and castles while literally sitting in a perfumed rose garden like in Alice in Wonderland. I wouldn’t say that influenced me directly, but certainly my own state of brain-fog sent my writing off in a more heady and fantastical direction," explains Adam Cromwell.

"I wanted the song to have the feel of a marching clockwork toy, so the beat is really simple and metronomic with the synths doing the talking by enveloping the song."

This single is the title track of the forthcoming ‘Memory Box' album, A mixture of electronic hauntological excursions, dreampop and European coldwave that is scheduled for release in early 2022. Using analogue synths, drum machines with parts played almost entirely live (with minimal computer sequencing) and vocals recorded without autotune, this record conjures up an organic, albeit dream-like, world that is inspired as much by Alice in Wonderland, Franz Kafka and Anna Kavan as it is by its sonic influences such as Kraftwerk, The Cure and Stereolab. The sonic pallet of 'Memory Box' is both reassuringly familiar and completely distinctive.

Rodney Cromwell's debut LP 'Age of Anxiety' (2015) and 'Rodney's English Disco' EP (2018) have garnered Rodney Cromwell features in Electronic Sound Magazine, NME, Huffington Post, Paste, Record Collector, BBC6 Music and national RNE3 in Spain, for whom he also recorded a live session. The debut album featured in scores of Best of Lists including Electronic Sound Magazine and he was named 'Most Promising New Act' by The Electricity Club. He has appeared on compilations alongside Cavern of Anti-Matter, John Foxx, Devo, OMD, Katy Perry and other notable artists.

Rodney will be playing a handful of live dates to support the album's release. His debut festival appearance at Indietracks 2015, described as 'a spiritual experience", led to further festival appearances in the UK and in Spain, in addition to supporting artists such as Pram, Marsheaux, Death & Vanilla, Rowetta and Steve Davis. In 2020, he also performed as part of Damo Suzuki's backing band.

As of October 27, 'Memory Box' will be available digitally everywhere, including Spotify, Apple Music and Bandcamp, where his earlier releases can also be found. On October 28, London's Hope & Anchor will host his Single Launch Party with appearances by Mood Taeg and Still Forever.

CREDITS
Written and recorded by Adam Cresswell
Martin J Langthorne - guitar on 'Memory Box'
Mixed and co-produced by Richard Bennett at Acme Hall Studios, New York
Mastered by Pete Maher
Album artwork by Martin J Langthorne

Keep up with Rodney Cromwell
Website | Bandcamp | Facebook | Twitter | Soundcloud | YouTube | Spotify | Apple Music | Amazing Radio | Booking contact | Press contact

Keep up with Happy Robots Records
Website | Bandcamp | Facebook | Twitter | Soundcloud | YouTube