Blueprints by Ammonite

You may recognise the name Amy Spencer from her songwriting credits on two early Bicep tunes Drift and Ayr? To be honest, appreciating her (vocal?) contribution on these instrumentals is difficult, but on the seven tracks from Blueprints, her debut mini-album as Ammonite, it's obvious because every track is built on her voice, either singing or manipulated electronically.

At just 22 minutes in length Blueprints flies by too quickly but what an emotional impact it delivers. The wonky synths on ARP Reprise, the closing track on the album, perfectly embodies the overall vibe: one of fragility but resolute progress. For years, as a woman in the male-dominated world of music production, acknowledging personal development made Spencer feel like an imposter, a sentiment cleverly conveyed through the wavering vocal treatment on Forgive Me Forget, like a veneer of vulnerability.

Well sequenced, the fluidity between tracks is key, largely accomplished through consistent vocal treatments (vocal pads, pitched vocals). Sometimes though, this flow is enhanced unexpectedly, for example throughout ARP, arguably an instrumental track, with its circular melody built on a bank of arpeggio vocals, the refrain 'You Don’t Know Me', from the opening track, gently echoes (in my head at least).

A confident debut.