Officially back after a three-year hiatus, Amateur Takes Control (ATC) returns with their second EP, aptly named ATC EP2 released via KittyWu Records. Recorded at Snakeweed Studios between April and June 2017, the EP features four new tracks, written with two new members – guitarist Field Teo and drummer Martin Kong.
Engineered and mixed by Kong and mastered by James Plotkin (Isis, Sunn O))), MONO, Pelican, Thou), the tracks highlight the band’s noisier, darker, more aggressive side. Tracks such as Ghost Hunter dexterously welcomes the
listener into the band’s more mature status quo with its forceful, urgent, and stunning twists. Opening like a dimly-lit drive through a dusty and forgotten dirt road, Mexican Cartel Brides begins ominously yet purposely. The journey inspires a desire for something undescribed around the corner, and as anticipation becomes desperation, the track’s scenery changes into a frantic, math-rock landscape. Time expands and contracts as elaborate sonic landmarks recur at strange intervals, slowing down or speeding up your perception of the world before the fever dream comes to an abrupt halt. Jugular is punishing beast of a song but shapeshifts into something groovier and far sexier, turning portly dread into playful dance. The Substitute starts steady and hopeful and gradually wades into deep when the tide starts to turn. Coyly at first, before the song’s pent-up aggression announces itself with an electronic stutter. It’s ensuing crescendo offers hard-hitting, oddly-timed catharsis before coming full-circle with its gentler opening motifs, as if to reconcile ATC’s blurring dichotomy.
ATC EP2 will be released on 26 December 2017
Listen at www.amateurtakescontrol.com.
Also digitally available on Spotify and Apple Music.
http://smarturl.it/amtakingcontrol
Album title: ATC EP2
Street date: 26 Dec 2017
Format: LP/Digital
Genre: Instrumental
Label: KittyWu Records
Catalog No.: KWR021
UPC: 636836643960
Track List:
01 Ghost Hunter
02 Mexican Cartel Brides
03 Jugular
04 The Substitute