In a series of narrated postcards delivered from Berlin, London, Manchester, and the lost villages of the French countryside, MEMS's debut album False Expectations Appearing Real is the first chapter of the duo’s musical experiment. Set to a backdrop of local pubs, black holes, winding country roads and spaceships, the lyrics recount the duo’s musings on the minutiae of daily life, delivered through soft-spoken word reflections over organic drums, experimental riffs, and floating rhythms nuanced by the pair’s electronic background. Born of a chance encounter between two friends with unrealized musical chemistry, the story of the album’s creation is one of longtime acquaintances discovering a shared view of the world, and love for the over-analysis of oft-overlooked contradictions of daily life. Inspired by voice notes taped at record stores in Lisbon, warehouses in London’s Eastern reaches, and plane cabins, the atmospheres that define the album’s lyrics sit in stark contrast to the settings for its production. Mixed and mastered by Klas Lindblad at Blackhead Studios Berlin, the pairing of decades of experience on the technical team with the improvisational lyrical tone embodies the project's ethos. A timely feature from Lester Duval sets the tone for the duality of the album’s message, articulating an awareness of the greater problems, systemic traps, and prevailing artificiality of today’s society underlined by a tacit acknowledgement that awareness within individuals – however well-meaning – does not always imply action as the default response. Though able to see through the haze and float above it, there’s not much to be done to escape it: floating just above water, but still fighting fire with fire.