26-year old London based artist Amaris Wenceslas aka Ámaris has just released a brand new album titled Aquamarine and it’s all about the sounds and stories that water can sometimes bring to the surface.
The album opens with “London Lights“, which is all about a walk (or drive) through London in the night time and the feelings that it can evoke to a walker. The artist was intrigued by walking along the Strand at night where she was fascinated by the whole atmosphere and it brought a marvellous feeling to her (that walk) so it was the main inspiration for the song. “London Lights” has a tranquil essence of the night’s mystery spectrum.
“Kiss It Or Leave It” is as summery as it ought to be. The Ragga influence on this one matches not only the high temperatures of the season, but also the high temperature that you feel when you are in love.
Its lyrics are all about the love commitment felt by lovers and as the artist sings, “actually it ought to have appeared on Neon Colors”. She had faced difficulties when structuring this song as the vocals were very demanding, but it was worth the effort because the outcome is truly mesmerising.
The third song of the album “Spotlight” has a feathery essence of old cabaret movie anthems, with the bass and vocals cleverly unwrapping throughout the song. It’s a song about something or somebody that will make the listener feel great or cheer them up, either because this something or someone makes them laugh or because they like their personal essence of existence near them, at least that is what Amaris wanted to develop as an idea to this one.
“Love Under” has a whole story hidden underneath its break up theme. Unfortunately due to technical difficulties, Amaris’ hard disc failed when she was recording this album so she had to start from scratch again, which, as one can imagine, resulted in some unpleasant times with her producer. Never the less, the whole ordeal evoked more creativity from her, as is evident on this song.
Even when winter comes, the next song “Beach Love” will remind us all of the pop and salty beach summer vibes and conjure up memories of this and previous seasonal tropical moments. “Build Me An Ocean” which follows, is a blues inspired song, which is the outcome of the artist’s love of dramatic songs but also, as she humorously adds, “it’s the outcome of the whole previous hard disks failure”.
On “She Ain’t Me“, the song’s obvious lyrics are about her – the other girl being not as good as the previews girlfriend but as Amaris unveils it has an under layered meaning also, a hidden message about the online gaming addiction. “Taunt” is inspired by the Heartstone and despite its powerful spiritual essence, it still is focusing in love and relationships.
“Every Step” is the most experimental track on the whole album. Many hours have been spent low-cutting the vocals in this one, so that the outcome would be as unflakable and unique as it finally became, bringing a higher sense of experimental mysticism in its musicality.
The tenth track on the album “Salt And Sand” is a truly EDM song. The artist blinks the eye to the listener as it is about too much salt that can destroy a relationship and as she says “the gamers among you will get its meaning”.
“Crazy” was influenced by water and floating sounds. There are no bass sounds used in this one as Amaris wanted to bring out to the surface of the tune, the watery beachy soft sounds and feelings.
Although the album title track “Aquamarine” is a break up song, it is inspired also by water and the tranquility it brings to people. “The song sounds blue to me“, she is quoted as saying, about the song title. “Aquamarine” is the perfect last touch of the deep fragile essence that surrounds the whole watery influenced album. There is also a bonus track to look forward to on the album entitled “New Harbour”.
Make sure you check out this new proposition by Amaris and get drifted away from the city lights by its watery and salty beach sounds and vibes and along with it, enjoy the rest of the summer. Purchase Ámaris Aquamarine on iTunes here and stream it below.
Words by Nancy Chalkopoulou
