A while back I had a friend ask me why I listen to ambient music. For a bit, I rambled on about the way ambient music can be a soft place to mentally curl up in. It provides you room to think while also gently guiding the direction of those thoughts. However, if I had been asked the very same question today, I would have just made my friend listen to Amulets' Future Fog. Each song creates a vastly different mood, but it’s done so subtly and gracefully that you don’t pick up on it unless you’re paying close attention. You don’t get lost in his music, it gets lost with you.

Amulets, who also goes by Randall Taylor, has most recently released Mountains Past / Immortal Yeller. Created in conjunction with fellow drone artist Bus Gas, the album explores the relationship between cause and effect. It does so beautifully. “Mountains Pass” in particular stands out. The song maintains a balance between emotional distance and bare-bones vulnerability. Not too mention this doesn’t even touch on live performance. With the use of handmade cassette tape loops and live guitar loops, Amulets focuses on recontextualizing his soundscapes to produce unique and immersive experiences for every audience.

Amulets' next show will be Saturday, April 6th at the High Mark. Slow Crush, Holy Fawn, and Long Hallways will also be performing. 

  -By Avril Carrillo, photo by Thomas Fang