"mEMOries" Part 19 feat. Mary's Letter

8 years ago, back on the old site, we did start a series called mEMOries. It was all about asking new Emo-bands or other scene affiliates about their all time favourite (Midwest-)Emo-record. It was about nostalgia. And it was about connecting the new with the old. I had big plans for this series, wanted to collect 20 parts and then release some sort of a sampler with an XL-booklet attached, that features all of the text pieces...

...after 7 parts the series was buried, when the end of borderline fuckup 1.0 was on the horizon. I'm still in love with the idea and tried my best to start a relaunch in 2021, but it mainly was a chore. However, I got back on track somehow, with a lot of support by some lovely people. Now, here's part 19 for your reading pleasure!

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// The band // Mary's Letter

MARY'S LETTER are new Emo-band out of North Carolina and named themselves after a piece from the arguably most touching videogame ever, "Silent Hill 2". They released their debut album "In Spite of Everything" back in July and are currently working on its successor. Jude Corbin tells us in "mEMOries" Part 19 about the impact a certain band left on MARY'S LETTER and their style...

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// The record // Foxing - The Albatross

Release: 2013 // Label: Count your Lucky Stars

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Jude on "The Albatross" by Foxing

One of my favorite things about 4th wave Emo was bands were bringing back the sensibilities of the 2nd wave but mixing them with other genres and ideas. "The Albatross" is a great example of this. This album is like a mix of Explosions in the Sky with classic Midwest-Emo like Mineral, and instead of being instrumental you get Conor Murphys haunting vocals and piercing screams. The guitars in this record are sparse and rely more on texture than melody, but when they ramp up they do so in a fashion that just sounds huge. 

The thing that always set this album apart from its contemporaries in my opinion is the almost movie-like soundtrack quality to the record because of the grandiosity of the instrumentals. The songs take their time and make you wait but are never uninteresting. I love every album by this band and "Dealer" as well as "Old Songs" are equally as close to my heart. It's definitely hard to imagine Mary’s Letter existing or at least sounding like we do without this record.

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"mEMOries" Part 1 feat. Mosey Jones
"mEMOries" Part 2 feat. Daniel Becker (Time as a Color Records, Amid the Old Wounds)
"mEMOries" Part 3 feat. Former States 
"mEMOries" Part 4 feat. Edie Quinn (Middle-Man Records, Coma Regalia)
"mEMOries" Part 5 feat. Human Hands 
"mEMOries" Part 6 feat. Alex Miles (Is this Thing on?)
"mEMOries" Part 7 feat. Boys' Club
"mEMOries" Part 8 feat. Keith Latinen (Mt. Oriander, Parting) 
"mEMOries" Part 9 feat. Villain of the War 
"mEMOries" Part 10 feat. John Szuch (Deep Elm Records)
"mEMOries" Part 11 feat. Flight Mode 
"mEMOries" Part 12 feat. Comic Sans
"mEMOries" Part 13 feat. Joe C (What Price Wonderland?, Plaids, Zochor)
"mEMOries" Part 14 feat. Mentah 
"mEMOries" Part 15 feat. Walking Race
"mEMOries" Part 16 feat. Against Realism
"mEMOries" Part 17 feat. Klaus Axmann (Goddamn Records) 
"mEMOries" Part 18 feat. Atlanta Arrival