Perfectly produced with swagger and sincerity to match, Alex Amor’s Love Language is an ode to the romantic tribulations of youth. Amor, who is 23 and from Glasgow, worked alongside Derbyshire-based DJ Karma Kid to craft this ethereal and majestic piece of alt-pop.
Love Language explores the progression of relationships, from their blissful beginnings to their fractious ends – it’s as relatable as it is playful. The EP’s title track – a reference to Gary Chapman’s book The Five Love Languages, which discusses how humans can show affection in relationships – sees Amor dissect her own failed romance through a series of light-hearted juxtapositions. It is fun and familiar, but with an RnB twist; a style which clearly comes naturally as a result of Amor’s background in poetry, as does her love for the syncopation of rap.
The coming-of-age narrative which predominates on Love Language relates as much to Amor herself as it does her relationships with others. ‘I am a woman struggling for autonomy’, she states. ‘I’m moving into adulthood and desperately trying to make sense of its complexities’.
This inner struggle is particularly apparent on ‘Motion’. Great care is taken to ensure that the instrumentation is kept minimal so as not to overwhelm the delicate lyric. ‘It’s me who got it wrong / I don’t know when to let things go’, Amor laments, before coming to terms with her situation. It’s not all doom and gloom.
Amor expresses personal experiences and feelings using her songs as vehicles of connection. It’s almost uncanny for someone so young. She says: ‘I am speaking directly to people from the heart. There’s an overarching theme of positivity in my music, the idea that it’s okay if things aren’t okay but there’s always hope that things will get better’. This sentiment extends far beyond the literal subject matter of Love Language and appeals to the more general human condition: we want to be loved, we want to be reassured, and we want to be excited. It’s safe to say Alex Amor is capable of creating moods where the listener is free to feel all three.
Love Language, much like a fleeting adolescent romance, is short but oh so sweet. It packs in everything from effect-laden soundscapes to sparse, airy ballads, and even includes some contextual swearing for good measure. At times it feels a little like poetry set to music, but this and its conversational feel are also what makes it fresh.
In an international pop world brimming with opulent, exclusionary, bourgeoise bluster, Alex Amor is speaking an engaging and honest modern language.
