Amamelia: Bananamelia! (Sunreturn/bandcamp)

 |   |  <1 min read

Amamelia: Bananamelia! (Sunreturn/bandcamp)

It's often useful to come to an artist with little prior knowledge.

And know even less about their struggles, gender issues, TikTok presence and so on. If the music's any good you can get back to all that.

Amamelia is Auckland's Amelia Berry and all Elsewhere had heard was the student radio single Colourbox which hit a special place between minimalist ambience, a languid vocal and subtle electronica.

We missed her 2020 debut album WOW! entirely (and the remix sequel) so come to this second album with few preconceptions.

Which means the humorously glitchy electronica on the whimsically exotic off-kilter dance beats of French Press (with a slightly satirical vocal parodying wispy French singers) jumping into the wonderfully energetic C'est Chic (which repeats the ethos and ya-ya vocal trick) come as a very pleasant discovery.

What is clever here is how these eight, largely instrumental tracks fold back into each other with elements repeated, looped, recalibrated into a different contexts and . . .

It's just smart, self-referential fun, house for around the house and unexpected electronica with a warm melodic heart.

On the emerging Sunreturn label which is delivering very fresh music and artists, and about whom we wrote here.

So now you can go find about her interesting career, struggles, TikTok presence and so on.

You may be, like us, fascinated by it as much as by this thoroughly enjoyable album.

.

You can hear and buy this album at bandcamp here

.


Share It

Your Comments

post a comment

More from this section   Music at Elsewhere articles index

Khruangbin: Con Todo El Mundo (Night Time Stories/Southbound)

Khruangbin: Con Todo El Mundo (Night Time Stories/Southbound)

In very late 2015 Elsewhere shone the spotlight on the hypnotic, summery and almost wistfully psychedelic debut album – which rejoiced under the title The Universe Smiles Upon You –... > Read more

George and Queen: Teenagers and Grownups (Universal)

George and Queen: Teenagers and Grownups (Universal)

For their third album, this duo (now a band) out of Dunedin (now Auckland) here deliver a particularly interesting amalgam of radio-friendly pop (the single Hut 234, the delightfully driving... > Read more

Elsewhere at Elsewhere

SHEZ RAJA PROFILED (2011): Jazz with a world view

SHEZ RAJA PROFILED (2011): Jazz with a world view

British jazz bassist Shez Raja confounds expectation in the best possible way. A scan of reviews and comments in the British press for the Shez Raja Collective (which included saxophonist Andy... > Read more

Bob Marley and the Wailers: Kaya

Bob Marley and the Wailers: Kaya

Coming between the mighty Exodus of '77 and the subsequent studio album Survival (also equally political and righteous), Kaya was a breathing space where Marley mostly engaged with the One Love... > Read more