Doing any one genre well is hard, but blending them? That’s even harder. Done well, and different styles and influences meld so seamlessly that you can’t tell where one ends and the next begins, do it badly and a melting pot becomes a maelstrom. Amongster has the balance down perfectly, and that expert touch comes to the fore in “Brother” in a big way. Effortlessly smooth; down-to-earth indie vocals dance over a bluesy bassline that wanders around with a mind of its own, and irresistibly pop harmonies glow through like dappled sunshine.
The result is skilfully radio-ready and undeniably intriguing, drawing the listener into a world that never goes quite the way you might expect.
I mean, for the first half “Brother” is the perfect long train journey song. It’s more than catchy enough to keep your head bobbing along, summery enough to make you lean back and feel the sun on your skin, gentle enough that you can be lulled into putting it on repeat and feeling hours slip by as if they were minutes. It’s the perfect soundtrack to watching rolling hills turn into cities and back again through your window, thinking about where you’ve come from and where you’re going next.
However, the second half is a completely different beast. Gone are the meandering Spanish-flailed guitars, and no chilled-out drums are bouncing along merrily beside you. The lyrics are just as relatable, but their light-hearted fizz is gone, and they’re backed by swelling waves of harmonies instead of a single cool riff. If the first verse and chorus give you permission to drift off into daydreams, the second snaps you back to attention.
The skilful part is, it does so without losing any of its laid-back charm.
There transition into a bigger, more sweeping track happens so organically that it’s hard to pinpoint exactly where “Brother” stops being just an expertly-crafted indie summer jam. When the crescendo hits and then fades out, stripping the song to its most essential skeleton, it’s hard not to keep listening, to figure out where every interlocking piece has come from, and yet -Like a wave slowly building and then breaking, the crest hits you all at once, and only then do you realise you’ve been heading to that point all along.
