Richard Youngs – Amplifying Host

Over twenty years and a ton of releases (with scores of self-released CDRs supplementing every widely-released full-length), Richard Youngs has built a solid and diverse body of work that defies easy summation. In a typically contrary gesture, Amplifying Host casts out the electronic pop of predecessor Beyond the Valley of Ultrahits, adopting a wholly dissimilar, more earthy aesthetic.

Young’s incantations cast looping spells that homage conventional folk in the Richard Thomson mould, at the same time as invoking the outsider drones of Jandek (with whom the comparably prolific Young has collaborated on numerous occasions).

Repetition is integral to most tracks here, with Holding on to the Sea demonstrating the mileage Young can wring from a single phrase, the title’s enigmatic poetry swelling with every utterance. The album’s dense weave can be difficult to penetrate on first listen, but in the right frame of mind, Amplifying Host’s idiosyncrasies hypnotise. [Chris Buckle]