The term 'bedroom pop' has often implied imperfect, perhaps lo-fi music, but it's artists like Liverpool-based pop newcomer Amber Jay that are redefining it.
The bedroom studio is a mainstay, but the production landscape has broadened vastly and Amber's approach has accommodated that with ease. Taking cues from artists like girl in red and Marika Hackman, she looks to craft songs that pull you in with the deeply personal lyricism, with an atmosphere that fully envelops you by virtue of the deeply engrossing and meticulous productions. Ahead of her debut EP due early next year, she shares the stunning and intimate cut, "Pencilled Brims."
Despite the tongue-in-cheeky cover, the song carries a darkly brooding energy that firmly holds your attention from start to finish. As her glacial tones outline a lovesick narrative, the production takes you on a metamorphic journey through a myriad of well-articulated styles that coalesce around the linchpin of her voice; from a folk-tinged introduction to the textured, cinematic electronica-leaning verses, through to an upbeat passage that reimagines classic soul records in her distinct sound.
Providing insight to the lyricism in an email statement, Jay shares, "Pencilled Brims holds a microscope over an initial moment of intimacy and how that moment almost becomes suspended in our minds, to be witnessed and analysed during and after the interaction has occurred. It highlights how in the action of intimacy there is a vignette-like experience around the event, allowing us to hone in on specific details to extract their beauty. However, suddenly finding yourself tied within a person so intensely, can mean you lose sight of yourself and the perspective of the situation. The line between love and obsession becomes equally blurred and no matter how much you try and change a person ‘the nature of the beast never leaves its side.”
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