During the summer of 2018, Alex Amor withdrew herself from society and dedicated every second of her time to creating. She recounts this time as "wholly liberating," saying that it taught her patience and "the power of delayed gratification."
Amor's Love Language EP was one of the results of this period of intense creativity. The body of work as a whole is all about the complexities of romantic relationships - how, sometimes, both parties (or neither) are at fault for their destruction, how difficult it can be sometimes to communicate with one another. Communication is, most of the time, the driving force for relationships. If you can't talk to your partner about what you do or don't want/need/like, what can you do?
The first track on the EP, "The Part with Each Other," is slow and languid - dwelling, almost, on the nights that Alex describes in her lyrics, where she and her lover are together and can't ever imagine a moment when they're apart.
"Prove Me Right" has the makings of an instant pop classic. The instrumental track blew me away when I first heard it - so simple, yet so spectacular.
The third track on the EP is "Motion," a track which seems to be about that point in a relationship when you find yourself going through the motions. When being with your partner becomes exhausting and almost routine-like, rather than exciting or comforting. When you realize that you no longer want to be with this person, but you let it go on longer than you should because you don't want to hurt them. When Amor crooned "Blame it on bad timing / But, baby, maybe I'm / Always destined to be dissatisfied" into my ears for the first time, my mouth dropped in shock - I felt so seen.
Title track "Love Language" reflects back on that main theme of communication - if you communicate differently from your partner, rather than not at all, is that somehow worse?
"So Far" reminds me a little of early Taylor Swift, and as a closing track, it's really quite beautiful - it wraps the EP up perfectly, the lyrics a callback of sorts to track three's theme of giving up the gun, but only after you're too deep in it.
On the EP, Amor says, “Love Language, is a reference to Gary Chapman's book ‘The Five Love Languages’ which expands on the 5 different ways humans show affection in a relationship. The title track is about a relationship that fails to align in that way. Opposites can sometimes attract but in this case, they repel. I am obsessed with paradox and juxtaposition - calm and chaos, dark and light, serious and playful.”
For a five-track EP - and for Alex Amor's debut - Love Language is an incredibly moving, cohesive body of work. I've been sitting on this review since the EP's release simply because I truly couldn't find the words to explain how it makes me feel, because, honestly, I have quite a bit to learn from what Alex Amor has to say about love and its many intricacies. If you're looking for new, refreshing pop music, look no further than Alex Amor. There's no doubt in my mind she's got so much more to give us.