Political music, in its nature, is often specific to the artist making it; there is no one form it should take, or rules as to how it should sound.
Amber Arcades’ second album ‘
European Heartbreak’ is a testament to this, a heartfelt confession birthed from the uncertain and unstable times we’re living in.
“Goodnight Europe, no one really got you I suppose it’s hardly a protest but I’m sad to see you go”, laments Dutch-born Annelotte De Graaf on the album’s lead single ‘
Goodnight Europe’. The initial release of this track implied not only a gentler and more considered approach than the higher tempo dream pop of her 2016 debut ‘
Fading Lines’, but also a hint at the themes of love, identity and nationality covered by her new record. As European in style as the title proclaims, the songs come together in a sophisticated journey across the continent. You can hear the album subtly sonically location hopping, whether among the Alps or in late afternoon sunshine along a Mediterranean coastal road, it fluidly moves between the soothing likes of ‘Oh My Love What Have We Done’ and the more upbeat ‘
Where Did You Go’.
In contrast to this musical cohesion comes the more jarring exposure of the reality often hidden behind the façade of romance. The hypnotic ‘
Self-Portrait In A Car At Night’ paints the cinematic image of ‘the road stretching out like a dancefloor’, while Arcades simultaneously reflects on the pain of endings. This hurt manifests in many senses across ‘European Heartbreak’, reflecting the experiences that come with trying to find a sense of belonging when things begin to fall apart.
