The back story behind Amber Arcades is almost as fascinating the music. It’s essentially the solo project of multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter Annelotte De Graaf, who by day works as a legal aide for Syrian refugees in her native Utrecht. Prior to that, she sat on United Nations tribunals dedicated to war crimes. Clearly well versed on humanitarian issues, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that her debut, Fading Lines, is one of the most quietly unassuming yet inherently beautiful records to grace our speakers in years. But then even the story of Amber Arcades eventually signing to revered UK independent Heavenly Recordings is shrouded in more luck than judgment. An occasional flatmate of De Graaf’s secured a job with the label and handing them a demo on the off chance someone might listen to it. Which might seem preposterous on the surface yet would have been an even bigger travesty had these songs not been heard in the first place. Nevertheless, eventually signing in January of this year, we’re here now with arguably among the finest debut releases of 2016, An artist to watch.
The Fat Angel Sings 