“Will you meet me at the diner?”
Three years since the release of their debut album, remember a stranger, Singaporean shoegaze/indie outfit motifs have returned, releasing a new track, “Aug 16”. With this single comes the announcement of their upcoming EP, If This House Was Bigger, set to release on October 10th.
Appropriately released on the date of its namesake, “Aug 16” is a comforting return to the dizzying haziness of motif‘s sound. The gentle, pedal-driven post-rock atmospheres and ethereal synths, delivered by guitarist JJ Tan and guitarist-frontwoman Elspeth Ong, as well as keyboardist Badrul Amin, paint a wistful portrait. Drummer Jolin Chiam‘s performance strikes the balance between momentum and subtlety, and the groovy basslines from Paul Yuen bind the entire track together. Ong’s vocals are hauntingly melancholic, conveying the emotion and message of the song effectively.
“Aug 16” is a song about loss — not of a person, but of a moment that slipped away too quietly. “It’s a story that belongs to several people,” the band explains. “The waitstaff. The postman. The clerk typing out bills. And maybe, to you.” Indeed, the liminality of life and the often-overlooked nature of transience is encapsulated in the soundscapes presented by “Aug 16”.
If This House Was Bigger was written and recorded at Sundlaugin Studios in Iceland. Elaborating on its themes, the band writes, “it captures that strange, in-between feeling of early adulthood: regrets you can’t quite name, dreams that feel both near and far, and all the empty spaces that connect them”
If This House Was Bigger releases October 10th via KittyWu Records, and you can pre-order it here for the US, here for Japan, and here for EU/UK. The record’s official artwork and tracklist are available below. Check out “Aug 16” here.
Tracklist:
- Aug 16
- Heavy is the Air
- Maybe in Another Dream
- Later on