| Today, Amiture, the New York City-based project of Jack Whitescarver and Coco Goupil, unveiled their latest single “Dirty” from the upcoming album Mother Engine, set for release on February 9th through Dots Per Inch Music. The dark and serrated new single arrives alongside a self-directed music video, premiered earlier via FLOOD, who commended the duo for their “creative take on experimental electronic music forged and honed within NYC basements.” Remarking on the track’s unique construction, Amiture issued the following statement: “In a way, this song is our most indebted to early hip-hop production on the album because of its melodic relationships. Each melody, guitar, bass, vocal, etc… is in a different key. This way we were able to find a darker environment that reflects the textures and soundscapes that older sampling technology had. Different samples in Dirty fit together regardless of their tuning, creating a cacophony of anxious gestures that somehow become a glittery dance track. We recorded each part live in our studio and not on a sampler, you can feel that kind of live, almost like theater, expressionist bravado. The lyrics tell you all you need to know about the ideal way to listen to Dirty.” Expanding on the concept behind the music video, Whitescarver added: “Cameras are always recording you. Your laptop records you. Your phone records you. It’s not clear what distinguishes an intimate moment from a public one. Most major cities like New York are massively surveilled. I thought it was interesting to think about how you would behave if privacy was no longer a clear-cut idea. The video intercuts surveillance-type video of New York City streets and people with more intimate interior scenes and even scenes of people making out. Dirty is about remembering a time when sex and love were valuable. If you know someone is watching you, maybe that estranges you further from that, maybe it makes it more so.” |
| Whitescarver and Goupil were involved in music their whole lives and briefly performed in a band together in college before taking separate paths as visual artists. It wasn’t until 2021, when the two came back together to flesh out live arrangements for Whitescarver’s solo endeavor The Beach, that their collaboration really began. Following this reunion, Amiture was reinvented. While the two were performing songs Whitescarver had written alone, Goupil arranged their own parts, displaying a sculptural sensibility in their contributions. The synthesis of Goupil’s unorthodox guitar stylings with Whitescarver’s heartfelt songwriting proved to be a rich union. Mother Engine began to take form in a dilapidated garage between a sanitation center and a set of train tracks. This would be their laboratory, workshop, and recording studio where they developed a process of working that included a newfound love for sample manipulation. They collaborated with other musicians including Matt Norman and Henry Birdsey to bring their production out of the digital landscape of Ableton. Between the tape machine, the amp, the turntable, and the computer, Amiture found magic. Each song is a part of a complex sonic matrix that reflected a vision and a sound neither one could have procured alone, always centered around Whitescarver’s classically trained voice and Goupil’s gritty, tripped-out-guitar sound, merged and then steeped in the traditions of American guitar music, industrial music, and folk melody. Following the release of Mother Engine, Amiture will perform at SXSW Music Festival in March. Stay tuned for additional tour dates including details for a special hometown record release show in February. |
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[Thanks to Cody at Terrorbird Media.]