Written by Kirk
Amiture — Mother Engine
> Trip hop/post-punk
> New York, US
> Releasing February 9
> Dots Per Inch Music
‘Sup, home skillet? Are you lookin’ for the 411 on an album that’s all that and a bag of chips? Check out the sophomore record from Amiture, Mother Engine, because this album is da bomb! What, you don’t believe me? Eat my shorts! Think I’d steer you wrong? Talk to the hand! Take a chill pill and sit down, because this one will have you totally buggin’ in no time. Trust me, it’s hella fly.
Okay, enough with the ‘90s slang. It’s time to get down to business. You need to get your hands on a copy of this album posthaste. I say this without even the slightest hint of irony, but the ‘90s were an incredibly pivotal period in my life. Something about the explosion of the grunge scene aligning with me hitting puberty made what is typically some of the worst years of anyone’s existence not an utter drudgery was nothing short of a blessing, and while I wouldn’t want to have to repeat my adolescence in its entirety, there is that sense of nostalgia with experiencing some of those bands for the first time all over again. Yeah, I was that kid who had Ten and Throwing Copper before anyone else in my school, and I’m not ashamed to admit it. But what if you could hear something that transports you back to that time in your life, something that not only sounds but feels like a long-lost memory that’s been unlocked? That’s what listening to Mother Engine is like, a veritable musical time warp in Mr. Peabody’s WABAC machine to a (seemingly) more innocent time.
Believe it or not, some of us here at Noob Heavy were old enough to remember the seismic impact that Massive Attack’s Blue Lines had on music as a whole. Distilling electronic music in a stew of pop, funk, dub, soul, and hip-hop gave birth to trip hop, and the rest is pretty much history. Shortly thereafter, we got such albums as Portishead’s Dummy and Björk’s Post, and by then the trip hop boom was already underway. These influences are where we find ourselves in Amiture’s Mother Engine, immersed once again in this vibrant world. Largely throwing aside their post-punk leanings that were at the forefront of their debut album, The Beach, and Coco Goupil’s musical talent really shines through. There is still that breathless, raspy quality to Jack Whitescarver’s vocals that gives these songs that same sense of raw urgency, but the vibe has completely shifted. This is Amiture as they were meant to be heard, and I like it.
Filled with an aloof sense of longing, Whitescarver’s vocals are reminiscent of The The’s Matt Johnson, somehow managing to sound both American and British while also sounding like he’s from somewhere else entirely. His voice splatters like fresh paint thrown at a blank canvas, full of vibrance and drama, and his jagged, angular guitar—though sparse amongst these twelve compositions—provides all the texture needed to cause the hairs on the back of your neck to stand up in all the right ways. Meanwhile, the smooth, laid back beats provided by Goupil are the backbone of this record, interrupting the overall chill vibe with the occasional heavy groove like “Glory” or danceable tune like “Billy’s Dream”. But more than anything, this album is just wall-to-wall grooves. Like the french fries at Red Robin, these vibes are bottomless.
THE BOTTOM LINE
I also say this with absolutely no sense of irony whatsoever: music is magic. It has the power to heal, the power to harm, and the power to transport us through space and time. It is quite possibly the most valuable resource on this planet and is endlessly entertaining and evolves relentlessly. Its only limitations are that of the individual’s own imagination, but even that is not a given. What was essentially a solo outlet for Jack Whitescarver’s artistic expression has metamorphosized into something truly unique and special. Some of you will listen to Mother Engine, and its majestic sonic cornucopia will be lost. And that’s okay; not all music is for everyone. But for me and my decades-long quest to explore as much music as I possibly can, it’s an opportunity to rediscover music I remember from my youth. Something about the hypnotic nature of this record transports me across multiple decades when I hit play, opening a portal to my teen years that is far more inviting and refreshing than I thought possible. And if that’s not magic, I don’t know what is.
The post Album Review: Amiture – “Mother Engine” (Trip Hop/Post-punk) appeared first on Noob Heavy.