Name: Amor / Lemur
Brand: Amor / Lemur

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

LSSN076

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Colour

Black

Colour details

Discogs ID

Format multiplier

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format detail

Format Music GB

Limited edition

Release date

2021-01-22

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier GB

Forte

Tax rate GB

Standard:20

UPC / Barcode

Total Cap

1 / 12" / Extended format: No / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No / black

Artist

Amor / Lemur 

Genre GB

Alternative / Modern

Label GB

Night School

Night School is a Glasgow-based music label that has been making waves in the industry since its inception. Founded by [a2776288], this label has quickly become known for its diverse roster of talented artists and unique sound.

With a focus on promoting underground and experimental music, Night School has established itself as a leading force in the independent music scene. The label's releases span across various genres, including indie rock, electronic, folk, and more.

What sets Night School apart from other labels is their commitment to nurturing emerging talent. They provide a platform for *up-and-coming* artists to showcase their work and gain recognition within the industry. This dedication to supporting new voices has earned them a loyal fan base and critical acclaim.

Amor / Lemur finds the Glasgow quartet Amor in partnership with Norwegian improvising ensemble Lemur to hopeful and ecstatic effect. Conceived before the onset of Covid 19 but finished during spring lockdown, their eponymous EP is the most loose, alive and elevated recording in Amor’s catalog.Amor / Lemur takes the template of throbbing avant disco expanded upon on previous recordings for Night School and lifts it into new territories, with new tonalities and unexpected turns on the journey. More than anything, the expanded, near-cinematic expression of human connectivity feels like a lightning new energy to grasp in the dark.

Following a revelatory concert in Glasgow in January 2020 wherein the two sets of musicians met and performed together for the first time, a recording session was arranged the following day, resulting in the most elevated permutation of Amor’s art to date. Each track was built upon a rhythmic bedrock of percussion and drums performed by Paul Thomson and samples / synthesizer by Luke Fowler. Thomson used bamboo Javanese gamelan (most notably on For You) and scrap metal, as well as traditional percussion and drums while Fowler incorporated processed ambient field recordings recorded in enclosed acoustic spaces around Glasgow.

Singer / pianist Richard Youngs contributes some of the most bright and mindful work of his career. Acoustic bass player Michael Francis Duch, whose lush playing as ever provides the elastic spine to each song, scored the string parts for Lemur on piano at home in Norway. The addition of swelling strings and drones fills out the Amor sound significantly, lending a sonorous tone to 8 minute, epic closer For You or an ascending melodic introduction to Stars Burst that feels like a new morning dawning on a world saved from certain death.

With the circumstances of lockdown forcing the musicians to work differently, a thread of optimism and utopia grounded in the moment weaves through these tracks. Unravel reveals a spine tingling vocal from Youngs. It’s a song about the simultaneously grounding and ecstatic effect of love, feeling connected to others. It’s a simple message, “I’m finding myself in your smile, always unravels me” speaks of ego death, the dissipation of the material into a nirvana of pure energy, the power of surrender. This isn’t a quasi-religious message, this is the power of each other, a love song to connection in a temporary age of isolation. Stars Burst is a play on the inner and outer cosmos, with narrator Youngs exploring wonder to a pounding galloping rhythm and snake-charming synth. It’s an open dance, with the group locked in together for the wild ride. Fear is the centerpiece of the record, starting with drones and scraped overtones before swirling synth notes filter upwards to meet reverberating minor chords. Over 8 minutes of tight but loose playing, Youngs is the shaman instructing us to use Fear as a celebration of the moment, embrace it and jump into the unknown. The only way to overcome your fear is to feel it, use it as an energy. The use of the studio as an instrument throughout side 2 is particularly important, with the dubbing and mixing prowess of engineer Paul Savage (who mixed unattended due to lockdown restrictions) and tape manipulations performed by Jason Lescallet coming into play. For You closes out with a largely instrumental, evolving composition that uses many of the abstract and novel aspects of this permutation to aid the trance. It’s massive, an unfurling creature with unexpected tonalities and serious heft.

Amor / Lemur

Music GB