Amberhaze: ‘Amberhaze’ EP review
By Chris Chew
Rating: 5/10
The mere thought of Italian Guiliano Gullotti pursuing his musical dreams in Southeast Asia is alluring, to say the least. Like it or not, denizens from around this cloistered region have a tendency to associate anything remotely continental—be it cars, textiles or film—with highbrow refinement. Never mind if the beef from that Swedish meatball came from a cow bred in Jinjang; it’s Swedish, so put some cranberry sauce on it, pronto!
Such a mindset is probably the two-pronged byproduct of: (a) some genuinely justifiable quality arriving from those chilly regions, and (b) the mental leftovers of our colonial roots. Either way, Gullotti’s solo project Amberhaze lands in Singapore’s indie scene on the bedrock of such expectations. Which is unfortunate, since the Italian expat’s musky brand of post-rock deserves to be assessed apart from such a dated context.
Amberhaze’s bedroom aesthetic might instantly draw comparisons between Gullotti and Jimmy LaVette, aka Album Leaf, but that is about as appropriate as saying a TV remote and that of an air conditioner are the same thing because they both have buttons. Gullotti’s laptop fiddling has resulted in an EP weaved by the two-fold cord of fear and dread, neutering our happy hormone with the viral reminder of a merciless world. Opener ‘Bird’s Eye’ emanates all the Scandinavian glacial imagery now so synonymous with the genre, yet sends forth an eerie premonition that particularly evokes passages from Sigur Ros’ ( ). It is gorgeous, but not in the tranquil, lilies-of-the-fields manner.
Given its place as the opener, it might be wrong to call ‘Bird’s Eye’ the EP’s centrepiece. But really, nothing else matches the song’s brilliance thereafter. Gullotti grapples with the limitations of his production setup, resulting in an imbalanced mix that tends to relegate some critical wispy synths into the background in favour of quick-picked guitar chimes. The pseudo-industrial ‘Beautiful Design’ is burdened with a thin, pitchy vocal output by Gullotti’s wife Joanne that devalues its verbosity, while ‘Welcome’s IDM blips could have done with a little less recurring hi-hat to pad the minimalism.
Nevertheless, Amberhaze has taken the right steps towards emergence. Gullotti demonstrates that he is savvy enough to avoid post-rock’s greatest pitfall, i.e., the grating penchant for wearing one solid melodic idea way beyond its stipulated welcome. That alone gives his music a healthy outlook. This might not quite be the imported leather couch yet, but then again, don’t they make those in China these days?
AMBERHAZE - AMBERHAZE EP
(Independent)
Track Listing
- Bird’s Eye
- Beautiful Design
- Welcome
- Can You Hear Us Now?
- Faith In Numbers