Chances are you haven’t come across Amber Edgar’s music before, and that’ll probably be down to the simple fact that it isn’t until now that she’s decided to share her it with the world. Driven by the desire to create a dialogue and “an urgency to become committed to [her] creative endeavours,” she’s come out with two tracks to call her own. This kind of backstory might assume you to think Edgar’s music is going to be lo-fi, hushed, delicate, etc, but as lead track “Honey & Sorrow” demonstrates, it’s anything but. There’s wonderful cooing flying above spiky guitar work, but then Edgar’s lone voice enters, bounded only by a hint of nervousness before letting rip as the song hits it exhilarating climax. “Wake up!,” she pleads through the noise, like’s she’s trying to rid a demon from her back.
Her lyrics paint an unusual picture, though. She bookends the track with the line “This is not what I wanted to be/ I am lost and wandering/ Around old places I’ve already seen,” and it immediately rings like there’s an element of artificiality about it all. Is the full band affair too much for something that used to be an intimate affair between the selected few she let listen to her music? Perhaps, but when she’s able to weave tales from her past as solid as “Troubles,” it’s hard to imagine her without the musical backbone. Sharon Van Etten will undoubtedly come to mind for some, but the precocious ease in which she steps into a more ferocious hue displays a talent that could already be on par with the aforementioned Brooklyn-based singer. The dialogue has begun, and it’s only wants me to read on.
Listen and/or download “Honey & Sorrow” and “Troubles” below.
