Two years ago, Electrelane frontwoman Verity Susman and Wire guitarist Matthew Simms were commissioned to create two separate film soundtracks: one for Tramps!, portraying the queer origins of the New Romantic scene, and another for Women Against the Bomb, a documentary about the all-female Greenham Common peace camp. After Susman and Simms were booked to play a gig together, they formalised their collaborations as Memorials, and have just released both excellent soundtracks alongside standalone single There Are Other Worlds.
Both films explore the liminal period when the 80s began to burst from the chrysalis of the 70s, and the exciting, unpredictable music of Memorials reflects the wild creativity and ambition of the time. Technology was democratising music production, and what had once been wild ideas – gender fluidity, postmodernism, feminism – continued their long swim into the mainstream.
For Women Against the Bomb, wide-eyed yet inspiring lyrics (“Just as winter comes to spring… We know that peace will come”) tumble over a sugar rush of guitars. Tramps! is less accessible but just as powerful, especially during the full-pelt title track or Feel of Time’s feral, grinding chaos. Each album is like a trove of tapes uncovered after 40 years, one in the city, the other the countryside. How Susman and Simms present these many moods on stage is a problem that should be fun to watch them fathom.
Music for Film: Tramps! and Music for Film: Women Against the Bomb are out now; Memorials will tour the UK in May
