[streaming] The Amazing – Ambulance
From “Ambulance”, out July 22nd via Partisan Records.
Christoffer Gunrup, The Amazing’s lead singer, songwriter and one of the band’s three lead guitarists, is known for his reluctance to talk about his process. He prefers to let the music speak for itself. He refuses to take part in the promotion of the band, never reveals the lyrics, which are often an impenetrable jumble in the mix, and expresses little satisfaction with any of the music he’ s recorded. “I think “Ambulance” might take more listening than the last album, but I never analyze what we’ve done. If I can listen to it without killing myself, we’ll keep it.”
On “Ambulance”, the Swedish band continues their journey to a place where music is free of restrictions, offering up another collection of densely concentrated melodies and fractured rhythms. The songs unfold slowly, without a traditional verse/chorus structure, spinning gauzy webs of shimmering mystery with their own inimitable dynamic of sinuous, swirling guitars; rich, ambient bass lines; crisp percussion and restrained, church-like, keyboard textures. The songs brim over with tension and more implied release than actual relief. “An ambulance picks up the wounded,” Gunrup says. “It does not mean ‘ ambulance’ in the common sense. Everybody needs a bit of ‘ambulance’ now and then”.
