Album Review: The Joy of Living

It’s been nearly four years since Amelia Berry released any music under her stage name Amamelia. The Melbourne-based musician, singer and songwriter from Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland has at last crafted a brand new record, titled The Joy of Living.

This new album was described as “a jubilant exploration of electronica, influenced by sapphic love”, as well as “a joyous cacophony of big squelchy synth melodies”. Colour me interested, I thought. I’m into synths and electronica, and certainly no stranger to cacophonies. 

Upon pressing the play button, I’m immediately enveloped in a big, bright musical shroud of hyper-upbeat keyboards, electronic drums, and cheery “ba-da-da-ba-da-ba” vocals. I can’t say this was what I expected upon hitting play, but then again, I had very little clue what I was in for in the first place!

Soundtracking your most psychedelic daydreams seems to be the aim here, as (Listen To) The Sound of the Wind and The Floating Opera would show. There’s even a bit of freeform jazz-esque composition on Shore City, and absolutely no shortage of synth riffs and dancey disco vibes. 

On A Private Cosmos, there is a blend of trippy, spaced-out synths, upbeat rhythms, and some hypnotic spoken poetry for lyrics. Had it not been for the skittering synthesised drums, I believe this could have been a wondrous, trance-inducing piece to meditate to, but I suspect the aim here is to energise and provoke.

Touchtone reminded me of the ambient soundtrack to the computer game Minecraft, complete with its minimalism and shimmering synth layers, providing depth and intrigue. In fact, I’d wager certain sounds heard on this track were made by the exact synthesisers used to create the music of Minecraft!

I must tip my hat to all the small but special touches, in particular the recorded samples of crickets chirping, native birds singing, and a handful more. My favourite was by far the purring of a cat.

There are oodles of extremely cute, light-hearted vocal and synth melodies, particularly on Cellular Spa and Summerlong. In fact, such features are applied liberally throughout the whole album. Having heard what Amelia can achieve by blending acoustic recordings with synthesisers, I couldn’t help but imagine the kind of soundscapes that could be achieved in a live setting, complete with instruments as well as samples. And synths, of course.

The Joy of Living is far from what I expected. Compared to my usual preference of electronic music, this was a proudly exuberant production revolving around loads of DIY synths, melodies and retro beats.

A breezy and ultra-relaxed attitude is woven into the fabric of this record, which if I had to categorise, it would sit squarely in the indie pop category, and is very unlike the pensive and eerie atmospheres of some electronic music that I’m accustomed to hearing.

From top to bottom, every track on The Joy of Living showcases Amelia’s masterful skills in creating synth environments, all served with generous doses of positive energy.