The Unit Ama take their time. They act on their own terms.
This applies to their music and their work-rate. Two albums and a handful of singles in twenty years. Sporadic gigs. No endless Bandcamp messages or weekly mailing list updates. Rare missions outside their native north-east.
And then…
Toward is their second studio album and their second Gringo release. It’s not their ‘pandemic’ album but does see the band considering the important things: post-traumatic growth, insight through experience. Utilising the past to navigate towards a meaningful future.
Toward was self-produced and will probably get tagged as post-hardcore which is fair enough. But it’s also informed by post-punk, jazz and folk, and by working closely together for two decades. The Unit Ama play in other incarnations that inform their music and the way they dismantle expectations
of the rock trio. There’s as much Richard Thompson as Minutemen.
Toward takes the exploratory, explosive sound of their debut and adds twenty years of living and listening. Toward is eight tracks that are thoughtful and intricate without losing any impact. The Unit Ama never let their abilities get in the way of their
instincts and Toward is full of surging urgency and roaring anxiety. But there are moments of brooding calm too, and a song – Mary – that could be stripped down and sold as a folk ballad.
You can watch the video for the track ‘Observe Yourself’ HERE – it’s ominous and heavy, but still manages to crackle with energy and fire and is a perfect illustration of the aural treats that comprise‘Toward’.
You can pre-order ‘Toward’ HERE:
1919 have teamed up with Brighton indie label Engineer Records to release “Last Dance of…
Photo courtesy of the band. Punk mainstays Fake Names are back with their third studio…
Photo by Duran Levinson Oxnard, California's NAILS have signed to Closed Casket Activities, marking the occasion with…
Photo by Frankie Rose Today, New York duo Content Blocks unveil “On the Market,” their new single…
Photo courtesy of Henry Long. We sat down with poet Henry Long, featured in Earth…
It’s always a pleasure to see how post-punk evolves over the years, exploring uncharted territory…