Amiture Music explore the dynamic boundaries of rock music in 2 Women (Dots Per Inch) – a five track EP rife in the contradictions of modern life. Themes of isolation and attachment, movement and stasis ebb and flow amongst waves of atonality characteristic of their New York home.
Formerly known as Amiture, the solo project of Jack Whitescarver has evolved from dark synthwave and trip-hop to impressionistic post-rock with the recruitment of drummer Justin Fossella, bassist Max Berine Shafer, and multi-instrumentalist Allie Wrubel. For their latest release, the now full-fledged band cite 70s experimentalists, This Heat and avant-garde composer Glenn Branca to create something altogether more discordant.
Opener, ‘My Loose Thread’ demonstrates a shift to collectivist songwriting; sparse, repetitive guitar patterns and single note basslines are granted space atop of frantic, unrelenting drums – creating a dissonance that is mirrored in the song’s abstract lyrics. Each component moves freely, creating swells of volume and intensity – turning discord into beauty.
Leading single ‘Idela’ encapsulates the band’s drive for collaboration and the creative possibilities it brings. Initially starting as an instrumental track, the band invited inimitable New York-based singer Eliana Glass to write her own lyrics in direct response to the sound rather than a predetermined concept – resulting in something as unsettling as it is captivating: ‘I saw men die / On the hillside’ punctuates the Interpol-esque groove, before Glass’ ghostly wails soar above a cacophony of guitars.
The track ebbs into a hushed outro, the collaborator’s spectral vocals settling into something almost serene. Each cog in this machine works towards something greater than its parts; 2 Women is an experiment in form and sound, with each track carefully crafted as a vignette exploring interiority and the outer world.
On ‘Window’ the band channels Texan noise-rock heroes, The Jesus Lizard with propulsive, overdriven bass accentuating the space left by shrill guitars. The mood is anxious, the rhythm relentless – any moment of respite is soon dismantled as all elements interlock with mounting aggression.
Amiture Music’s openness to playing with form and genre shines on the EP’s penultimate track, ‘Bad Call Autofile’. Starting as a skulking rock n’ roll riff reminiscent of Ice Age, it builds before veering into Jeff Buckley territory in its closing moments. The band plays on the quiet-loud-quiet dynamic throughout the EP – with this song particularly showcasing the opposites that make up its themes: ‘I hate you, I hate you / I love you, I love you’, sings Whitescarver, as hopeful arpeggios give way to distortion-laden guitars that mirror the turmoil of these conflicting emotions.
Closer, ‘Albertine’ plays out like an obsessive love song, centred on a muse that hovers on the edge of a dream. Open guitar chords chime beneath the narrator’s repetitious admissions of desire, before the drums begin to stutter and slow. Everything becomes disjointed as each member stumbles over one another; an abrupt ending that sees the song collapse under the weight of its own longing. The intimacy and solitude of modern life.
Drawing on a wide range of influences, 2 Women navigates the full breadth of human emotion, examining the point where the familiar becomes strange. A thematically complex but sonically refined EP, Amiture Music embed themselves at the forefront of a thriving New York underground scene.
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