Mountain by Amiture Music

Today, Amiture Music makes their debut with the new single “Mountain.” The band, led by Jack Whitescarver (formerly Amiture), bridges the chasm between 90s radio rock and the bold experimentation of downtown no-wave. The overall endeavor began in Whitescarver’s college apartment in the Hudson Valley in 2018 and has taken a myriad of identities since—though its diverse sonic and aesthetic sensibility has always been led by the frontman’s distinct artistic vision and driving vocals. The synth-heavy debut album, The Beach, was released in 2021 as a solo project, followed by 2024’s Mother Engine, a collaboration between Whitescarver and guitarist Coco Goupil, which introduced a moodier and more industrial sound palette. The latest iteration is an experimental rock quartet that is quintessentially New York, both shaped by and in opposition to the city’s cluttered music scene. It’s “four normal guys making crazy music,” says Whitescarver, who provides vocals and guitar. New York natives Justin Fossella and Max Berine Shafer are on drums and bass respectively, and multi-instrumentalist and percussionist Allie Wrubel, who hails from the Bay Area, completes the ensemble.

“As musicians,” Whitescarver says, "the four of us are able to access an unspoken knowing, a shared voice, and this intimate understanding has allowed us to blend and mold our distinct approaches and styles into a unified, total sound.” “Mountain” is the most immediate recording Whitescarver has made yet. The band’s tools are the classic rock-band tools, but their experimentation (coupled with a studied reverence for song structure and Whitescarver’s elliptical lyrics) re-animates and re-configures precepts of the rock song in an exciting and incarnate way.

Speaking about the song’s accompanying music video, Whitescarver adds: “It was shot and edited without any reference to the music. I wanted to see what would happen if the video followed its own rhythm, contrasting with the song’s. I realized that moments of synchronicity would emerge naturally, and leaving it up to chance gave it a softer, more organic feel than if I had edited to the beat. The scenes are all based on dreams, and we filmed it in just two days.”

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"Amiture, the long-time project of Brooklyn-based artist and musician Jack Whitescarver, is now Amiture Music. The overall endeavor began in Whitescarver’s college apartment in the Hudson Valley in 2018 and has taken a myriad of identities since—though its diverse sonic and aesthetic sensibility has always been led by the frontman’s distinct artistic vision and driving vocals. The synth-heavy debut album, The Beach, was released in 2021 as a solo project, followed by 2024’s Mother Engine, a collaboration between Whitescarver and guitarist Coco Goupil, which introduced a moodier and more industrial sound palette. The latest iteration is an experimental rock quartet that is quintessentially New York, both shaped by and in opposition to the city’s cluttered music scene. It’s “four normal guys making crazy music,” says Whitescarver, who provides vocals and guitar. New York natives Justin Fossella and Max Berine Shafer are on drums and bass respectively, and multi-instrumentalist and percussionist Allie Wrubel, who hails from the Bay Area, completes the ensemble.

Jack met Max and Justin, also known as “the best rhythm section in New York,” while looking to round out the sound of his sophomore album. Those two’s partnership dates back to their days at Laguardia High School, where their musical foundation was built through classical training and, for Fossella, incursions into free jazz. Wrubel, who played in bands in high school but had since shelved his musical ambitions, came on board last year to fill in on drums. The arrangement was first temporary, but then made perfect sense, so they didn’t let him leave.

Amiture Music defines itself as a rock band that puts music first. There’s no conceit or gimmick here, just what floats to the top when you put four highly skilled musicians in a room and lock the door. This is a serious endeavor by serious people, but they aren’t afraid to get demented with it. Think deeply uncynical, sincere to the point of pain. Whitescarver’s melodic sensibility and lyrical inclinations towards longing and desire, fine-tuned over years of live performance and artistic exploration, carries into this latest chapter, but is enhanced by his new comrades’ abilities and the easy chemistry between them. By teaching himself guitar over the past year, he added a new dimension to his primary instrument—that voice, which alternates between rasping intensity and smooth, crooning melodies.

This fusion of skill and chemistry is exemplified by Amiture Music’s debut single, Mountain, written during a “very heterosexual” band retreat to a snowy upstate cabin this summer. The band’s tendency toward multi-layered arrangements shapes a dynamic sonic landscape that can shift between the heady avant-garde and down-to-earth rock and roll in a single composition. “Oh my love what would I do with the least amount,” Jack pleads repeatedly in a plantitive croon. Mountain has grit, flirting with dissonance while not withholding melody. A traditional verse/chorus/bridge structure recalls early 2000s radio rock, but by the end, the song shatters the straightforward with a cacophonous maelstrom of noise.

When forced, the band says their inspiration runs the gamut: there's New-Romantic sensibility from The Blue Nile, a reverence for the American iconoclasm of The Beach Boys, as well as deep admiration for 20th century experimentalists like Glenn Branca, This Heat, and the minimalist composer Michael Nyman. Amiture Music falls somewhere in between the dreamy ideal and the dirty world we're all living in, bridging the gap with both technical precision and raw emotion.

The band has been honing their sound through performances across New York City, with occasional ventures to upstate and Austin, Texas, and has plans to release an album soon. Right now, they’re just navigating the city’s rock-and-roll world on their own terms, guided by sound, scene be damned.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxox

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