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Amberhaze, "Then We Saw The Stars Again"
Amberhaze is the solo project of an Italian expatriate currently living in Singapore, which seems to be an unexpectedly fertile ground these days for warm electronic music such as this. However, Giulliano Gullotti also exhibits quite a healthy (and well-justified) passion for early ‘90s English shoegaze (which obviously Singapore is not as known for). Despite that substantial temporal and geographic disadvantage, this debut album combines those two loves with a sometimes stunning degree of success.
This album opens in a very odd and counterintuitive way, with a pleasant (but very brief) piano piece that segues into seemingly yet another sparse, melancholy piano piece. That second song, “Blossoms,” slowly begins to build in intensity, however, as a majestic synthesizer melody gradually fades in alongside some bombastic, slow-motion drums. Not much else ends up happening though and I found my interest rapidly waning. Thankfully, Gullotti starts to show some promise with the third track (“The Beat That My Heart Skipped”), which tweaks the formula of the previous track with increased density and exuberantly stumbling, off-kilter drums. It is remarkable how much a difference great drumming can make, especially with sad, slow music like this, which can easily be plodding and dull. Giulliano, as it turns out, is an excellent percussionist. Or at least very good at programming a drum machine.
The near-prefect fifth song (“A Certain Affinity”) was the one that finally grabbed me. Gullotti combines a catchy and propulsive synth pop foundation with an extremely cool, subtly dissonant, and oddly-timed guitar riff, then tops it all off with an endearingly burbling keyboard motif. As it steadily increases in intensity, the guitars grow noisier and the drum machine begins to stutter more and more before it all downshifts into an achingly beautiful bridge. It is difficult to think of a more bittersweetly memorable instrumental pop song, as literally everything is arranged and presented for more maximum impact and emotional power.
Thankfully, that mid-album infusion of momentum hardly dissipates at all for its remainder. While “Affinity” is definitely the best song on the album, nearly everything that follows it is pretty excellent and instantly gratifying. “1994,” which follows immediately afterwards, is similar in epic feel to “Blossoms,” but with a much better groove and infinitely more explosive drumming. “Crush” stands out as yet another killer song, closely resembling a collision between the best elements of Labradford and Slowdive. The wheezing synthesizer, shuffling rhythm section, and lazily gorgeous guitars of “There is a Way” make for yet another clear highlight (though the tortured Swervedriver/MBV-inspired guitar wailing in the middle certainly doesn’t hurt either).
While it is extremely obvious who Amberhaze’s primary influences are, Giulliano definitely combines them in a way that is uniquely his own. I’d love to know what this guy was doing before this, as Gullotti displays immense, fully-formed talent for writing catchy songs and great melodies, as well as great deal of instrumental and orchestration prowess. Then We Saw the Stars Again certainly has some serious faults, but they are largely the result of sequencing faux pas and lax self-editing rather than any lack of skill or vision. At his best, Giulliano Gullotti has no trouble standing with all the great bands that inspired him.
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