Shop Gempler's for sturdy, long-handled pitchforks that are ideal for scooping manure and hay. That's why here you'll find a quality selection of hay and manure pitchforks to help you through the day. ![]() On In Amber, Butler may have found a handful more peaks and his share of valleys, but few can emerge from the shadow of what came before. Working on the farm or those big landscaping jobs is hard work. It’s the kind of emotionally charged, genre-invigorating classic that Hercules and Love Affair has become known for. The song embraces their foundational strengths, built around an insistent, detuned bass loop and ANOHNI’s most magnetic and rousing performance here. For all the genre blending and production flair, there’s nothing kinetic or buoyant enough to stand alongside his best-loved floor-fillers, though “One” comes closest. ![]() The acerbic “Poisonous Storytelling” is a severe, drum-heavy pop ballad that’s equal parts industrial techno and angelic chamber music. At its core, “Killing His Family” smartly blends distorted percussion with a bouncy house bassline, which Butler uses to shift between moody, deconstructed verses and poignant, earwormy choruses. The music feels meditative, and its layered arrangement swells and contracts alongside the lyrics’ emotional uncertainty.īutler has always sounded most confident when writing for the dancefloor, so it’s no surprise most of the standouts fall in that comfort zone. Butler uses a similarly linear structure with “The Eyes of the Father” and elevates his ideas with a string section, lyrical guitar leads, electronic noise, and stirring vocals. But despite its cutting dynamics and diversity of sounds, the song’s six minutes of sullen Ren Faire theatrics seem to plod aimlessly. Icelandic singer Elín Ey lends the downtempo “Dissociation” a gentle poise, though her placid delivery sounds anonymous compared to ANOHNI’s injured tremble on the stripped-down elegy “Who Will Save Us?” The funeral march of “You’ve Won This War” fixates on a two-chord progression around which the fluctuating arrangement orbits, as Butler oscillates between grim talk-singing and a sort of regal chant. There are also spaces for reflection and calm, which are often where the album falters. In “Christian Prayer,” ANOHNI denies ideas of an afterlife as she shouts through searing guitar feedback and rumbling drum fills, “When I die, do not appeal to your godhead.” Then in the simmering anthem of dismissal “Contempt for You,” she repeats like a rousing mantra, “Sure am glad I survived, but I’ve got nothing but contempt for you.” The rage isn’t hopeless: Somehow, the raw conviction makes her words feel uplifting and communal. Most notable is the return of ANOHNI, who-14 years after her performance in “ Blind” helped define the sound of H&LA-brings an essential energy that ranges from despondent to furious. Flourishes of post-punk, goth, industrial, and the edges of 1980s rock are scattered throughout the production, paired with uniquely varied vocal performances. For a producer and songwriter who’s spent nearly a decade and a half sculpting the golden eras of disco, house, and techno in his own image, Butler makes a bold change of direction across these 12 songs.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |