Hailing from the city of Jalandhar, AM.E.R released his second album titled “khuddar” in September of ’24. This project is the other half of his first album “mera memoirs” which was released in 2023, where he delved into themes of being lost in the idea of loving someone, being oblivious and blind to everything else because of it. khuddar acts as a direct counterpart to mera memoirs, where we see him accepting, coming to terms with things and owning himself over the 9 tracks featured on here. The yang to the yin of themes addressed on his previous stuff, a lot of the sounds on here are inspired by synthwave and RnB genres. AM.E.R does still cycle through a lot of genres on this one without missing a beat, carving his own spaces and niches into each one of them.
We start off with some percussion elements and mellow strings on “aadatein”. AM.E.R comes in with soft croons of the chorus married with a piano progression following the melody. 8 bars later, we’re hit with all the main elements, a double bass groove consisting of a sine wave bass mixed with a synth bass, holds down the fort. A very interesting and old school songwriting choice here, using the bass to give the song rhythm instead of the drums. The track builds up with a house bounce, over which AM.E.R comes in for some vocal runs followed by the second verse. The bridge blends into the outro with a shiny synth topping off the instrumental. The lyrics of this track indicate the feelings and plight of an individual trying to rid themselves of their old habits. Other synthwave instrumentals on this album include tracks like “dastana” and “bhule na the” (which features exquisite vocal harmony stacks).
“darmiyan” begins with chaotic and rapid vocal chops over which the synth stabs and drum hits come in. This one is chock-a-block with a lot of live percussion sounds over which AM.E.R sings about being stuck in the middle.
We’re led into “vichaar” with a vocal sample after which airy, almost choir-like vocals come in with an RnB drum pattern. The vocal sample is chopped up and used at various different parts of the song. There are no vocals on this song, only a couple of vocal samples which are arranged to act as the verses. This track is very interesting to me as it features no vocals, but through the use of the vocal samples, we’re able to tell that this song is about how AM.E.R, like a lot of artists, uses music as his vessel of emotion and expression, to say things that he can’t say out loud, how his music is an up close and personal glance into his mind and his conscience. This technique of using vocal samples to put across a message is usually adapted in small sections of hip hop music. Listening to an entire song which uses this technique was a pleasant surprise and just showed me how AM.E.R is constantly reinventing sonic norms. The next track “mehrbaan” carries on similar themes and vibes, with a more upfront instrumental and percussion section.
“teri yaad” has a similar four on the floor plus percussion pattern with a busy synth section which make up both the rhythm and the lead parts of the instrumental. I love the little lead line that continues throughout the song, it gives the track a more free flowing feeling while also filling up the sonic spaces.
“bulaaye” is the song that stands out the most from all the others. Instead of using synths which are prevalent throughout the album, AM.E.R uses a Rhodes-like piano on this one. The drum sounds are extremely bit crushed, giving them an almost static-like feel. The intro builds up to a crescendo and you expect to hear a big drop, but the track flows into a smooth jazz verse, one of my favourite moments on this album. The track cycles through mainly two genres, a synthwave/EDM influenced sound for the intro and outro, and a smooth jazz waltz for the verses.
AM.E.R closes out this record with an operatic DnB track titled “mere paas”. This one, like a lot of the other songs on this record, is more instrument heavy. He comes in for some quick vocal lines which are then chopped up and used for the later parts of the track.
The whole project is a journey from start to finish, where we hear AM.E.R talking about letting go of old habits, and how they die hard in “aadatein”, to coming out terms with the fact that even if we’re not physically together, we’re together in soul, on the final track “mere paas”.
A trailblazer in this new era of indie electronic music , The fusion sound AM.E.R has crafted and brought to his name by combining all his influences(which I believe are people like Lifafa, Fred again and Tame Impala) is something I’ve never heard before, and is definitely something I’m looking forward to hearing more on later projects and tracks from him.
