Richard Youngs, who’s so prolific that not even he owns everything he’s recorded, added to his vast catalog last month with Amplifying Host, an incredibly beautiful yet peculiar album that got us so excited we had to scream EUREKA. In our review, TMTer Ian Latta wrote how the album sounds “broken” (sounds, not is), a particularly interesting descriptor, given how fluidly and seamlessly the music flows. But Latta’s completely right. In an interview with The Quietus, Youngs explains how both the album’s chord progressions and tempos were randomly determined to “bypass any decision-making.” Indeed, there is nothing fixed about this album; it’s all ellipses, movement, instability.
This is all visually reflected in the video for “Furrows Again,” the first track off Amplifying Host. Directed by Naomi Yang (of Damon & Naomi), the video’s momentum is derived from a sense of aimlessness and transition, an unsettling feeling for listeners who expect their caterpillars to turn into butterflies. But those who are willing to submerge themselves in less predictable experiences from a musician whose compositional practices are anything but routine will find much to enjoy here.
• Richard Youngs: http://myspace.com/richardyoungsmusic
• Jagjaguwar: http://www.jagjaguwar.com
