With three LPs, three EPs, several festival stints, and a host of film and television soundtrack appearances (including Savaged, MTV’s Catfish, and Royal Pains) behind them, the Italian quartet Amycanbe is justifiably one of the top dream pop acts in Italy. The quartet—vocalist Francesca Amati, keyboardist Mattia “Matta” Dallara, bassist/guitarist Mattia Mercuriali, and drummer Marco Trinchillo—cite acts like Radiohead, David Bowie, Aphex Twin, and Nina Simone as stimuli, and on their latest single, “White Slide (Live)”, each influence bleeds through in subtle ways. Taken from their upcoming EP of the same name, the track is an absorbing hodgepodge of singer-songwriter smokiness and twinkling dissonance that triumphantly demonstrates Amycanbe‘s multifarious style.
The band explains that the studio version of the track “originally started as an instrumental demo by Marco Trinchillo for a dance side project”; however, once Amati heard the arrangement, she knew she had to sing and scribe lyrics for it. As for the live version, they say it’s “tremendously rearranged” and “pushy”. Indeed, the opening drumbeats and synth loops instantly suck you in and make for an engaging foundation on which they stack smooth singing, relaxing six-string patterns, and transcendental keyboard swirls. It evolves and adapts imaginatively as it goes, too, ultimately achieving an oxymoronic essence of welcoming otherworldliness. While it’d be fascinating enough without words, Amati certainly assists as the harmonious and thought-provoking nucleus.
Dive into “White Slide (Live)” and pre-order the White Slide EP, which comes out on 19 April via Open Productions.