Exclusive First Listen: Ami Dang's 'A Muted Crime' Sings About Uneven Power Dynamics In A Relationship

If Ami Dang's early work was rooted in art-pop and 2019's seminal 'Parted Plains', alongside the subsequent 'Meditations Mixtape, Vol. 1', was a shift towards the meditative and experimentally cinematic, then the Punjabi-American musician's upcoming album 'The Living World's Demands' is a place where elements from each come together.

A personal and conversational lament to the difficulties humanity has challenged the world and itself with, the album, which releases on November 4 via Phantom Limb and Leaving Records, is a collection of song-led soundscapes dealing with trauma, survival, resistance, injustice and fear with a tone of positive empowerment.

To introduce these multi-faceted qualities of the album, the opener 'A Muted Crime' serves as the perfect amuse-bouche, providing a snapshot of all the album's flavours. While the single releases tomorrow October 25 across digital platforms, Ami has shared the track ahead of release exclusively via Wild City.

Amrita "Ami" Kaur Dang's chant-like lines "Time and time again they prayed // Time and time again they waited" reverberate into the ethereal ambience, mixing with the synth-scapes just as the hook of low foreboding pluck merge to become a contrapuntal part with the sitar in the outro. Over it, she sings about relationships where one is trapped in a cycle of abuse and uneven power dynamics that make it harder for the victim to escape the toxic situation. Ami addresses it with a hymn that acknowledges the pain and encourages to try and break free from it, referencing old traditions of Sati with lines like "Electrify! Break from your pyre. Fear not now."

Remarking how the song has changed its meaning to encapsulate more than its early inspirations, the Baltimore-based artist remarks: "'A Muted Crime' has taken on a bit of a different meaning over the time that the record was created with the current struggle in the US for access to abortion and better outcomes for reproductive health justice. The song, like many on the album, is a sort of call to action for people to rise up and fight for rights and freedoms, especially here with regard to the control that the state has over our bodies."

Listen to 'A Muted Crime' below, exclusively via Wild City ahead of its wider release tomorrow. For more, head to Ami Dang's artist profile.

Image by Micah E Wood