Amalia Juliane is a multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, songwriter and improviser based and raised in Brooklyn, NYC. She has played around NY at venues like Nublu, Rockwood Music Hall, The Bitter End and Arlene's Grocery and has studied with people like Fay Victor, Wendy Eisenberg and Margaret Glaspy. This Is Not My Mind is her recent release.
In her own words the album “is about how intense human experiences can feel in your body, and how they can make you feel detached from your own mind.” There are seven songs and the album lasts a little under a half hour. The first song is entitled “So Far” and starts with a lone acoustic guitar. It doesn't take long for other elements to surface, like drums, bass and her vocals. I loved where the song went in terms of timing and scales. There’s an upward ascension of a bridge and radio frequencies. It’s an off-kilter song that is still catchy and technically impressive. I always love a good banjo and “I Don’t Feel” puts that instrument forward. It’s not a standard bluegrass song however. The timing of the songs deviates from 4/4 and there are changes with the BPM. There’s an infectious hook as well before the three-minute mark. I was really enjoying the musicality of the songs at this point. “Not My Mind” seems to be the theme of the album. This is a slow burn of a song. The drags on the snare sounded perfect and the more melancholy vibe worked. There are a good amount of transitions with the most notable one coming around the two-minute mark where it starts to feel like catharsis or epiphany. “Space” combines strummed guitar with beautiful white noise and then goes into an orchestral swell which has one of the most intense moments on the album. “You’re in Your Hell” starts off lush with guitars. I liked the lyrics but something about her saying “you’re in your hell and I’m in mine” had an absurdity to it that felt tongue-in-cheek and funny in an absurd way. The song explodes with a fuzzy bass and there's a good amount of rocking. “Drown” is a fuzzy song and I think this song had my favorite vocal performance. She has an intensity here I liked. Last up is a more intimate song called “Turnaround.” About twenty years ago I was attending college with a focus on music composition. Juliane is where I was back then and truth be told this is just the beginning for her. I predict good things to come for this artist because I thought this was a good album from beginning to end. She has a lot of ideas, some of which are complex but can also make it accessible to the masses. I think that’s a great start and I look forward to hearing where she goes from here.
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