03 November 2022 - 0 Comments

Amamelia is the musical project of Amelia Berry (she/her), a musician and songwriter currently based in Tāmaki Makaurau. Amamelia's music combines breaks normally found in Jungle & Drum & Bass with a sugary synthetic pop sensibility.

Following the unexpected Tiktok hit Gap Selection, Student Radio Network favourite Colourbox, and the recently released C'est Chic, Amamelia now shares her long awaited sophomore album Bananamelia! (out digitally and on Vinyl LP on November 3 via Sunreturn).

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Inspired by Cornelius' 1997 album Fantasma and Soichi Terada's 1996 album Sumo Jungle Grandeur, Amamelia's Bananamelia! loops and resamples itself, repeating the evocative chimes, homesick synths, field recordings, smooth strings and of course drum breaks. The album can be played seamlessly on loop, like a grooving ouroboros.

"After my friend Reuben [Winter] died in 2020, I found it really hard to keep making music," says Berry. "Bananamelia! has been my way back in, just trying to go back and recapture what made me want to start making electronic music in the first place, way back in 2015 when Reuben taught me the ropes of Ableton and showed me how to cut breaks. A lot of the record reflects the music I was listening to back then, heaps of Shibuya-Kei, a bit of Ninja Tune, a bunch of Margo Guryan type 60s music, and loads of YMO."

Reflecting on her debut album (2020's Wow!) Berry says "I just felt like so much of Wow! was driven by production ideas, and sound design ideas, and I wanted Bananamelia! to be more keyed into musical ideas. I had a lot of fun hiding little motifs thru-out the record, connecting the songs that way."

After a couple of tracks, keen listeners will start to recognise Bananamelia! has an interconnected sound. "One big thing for Bananamelia! was that I wanted to limit the sound palette. Partly because I thought it would force me to be clever with the writing, rather than just the design, and also to tie the whole thing together, making it feel more cohesive. At the core of the album is this really simple combo of piano, strings, sub bass, and lots of Think Breaks. I'm a bit of a natural contrarian so I also just wanted to get as far away from the kinds of sounds I was hearing in other people's music, no wavetable synths, no big stabs, I mean...the record barely has any kick drums in it! Was this a good idea? Probably not! But I love how much it makes it its own weird little island."

With the album now released Berry reflects "I really poured my heart out for this one - so I hope that people feel comforted by it, feel happy listening to it."

Photo Credit: Frances Carter

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