Review by Paul D Houston
2020 has been a terribly hectic, violent and outright crazy year and if you are like me, you are looking for an escape from this reality as much as possible. I'm looking for as many moments to chill as I can, as these moments are increasingly few and far between. And because I love music so much, I'm looking for as much really cool, really chill music to go along with this hectic and pained life.
Fortunately, I found this album, "Sentimental Animals" by the Portugal based band, Amahlie. This album was released this past August and is largely an alternative folk kind of album, I guess. And while I don't normally find this kind of genre all that exceptional in these modern times... I did like this album quite a lot.
Perhaps the easy and melodic vocals are what hooked me? Or perhaps it was the simple melodies, which kept reminding me of easy country summer afternoons? I'm not totally sure, I just know, song after song, this album kept surprising me. Let me reiterate, a lot of the alt-folk bands of today, do their best to sound like variations on each other, but not this album and not this band. While they do remind me of a few classic folk artists and albums, they're not a copycat band. And they're not trying to homage some folk artist of the past either.
Possibly my favorite song from this album is, "I Waited". Perhaps because of the dreamy piano line and the pained vocals and lyrics...? I'm not sure.
I've put this on initially as background music, each time I've listened, but each time I've ended up focusing on the music more than whatever task I was doing at that moment. I can also imagine this album being a good listen while driving. It would be a good listen to keep you calm, while city traffic is amping you up, or perhaps a great listen at a loud volume while cruising through empty lanes of a long highway through the countryside.
Alt-folk or not, this is a very well done album and I quite enjoyed its downtempo melodies and sultry rhythms. The full album can be found here: https://amahlie.bandcamp.com/album/sentimental-animals