My cables are falling apart
I don’t know why
I didn’t do anything wrong

I’ve written about Amy Godsey before–she’s an LA-based artist exploring a largely instrumental sort of gently tactile semi-ambient synth music. Where her newest record, Ananta (which I wrote about previously) attempts to reflect the freedom of nature in its chaos and complexity, her 2020 album Regions of Resonance is more concrete and cerebral. This is likely indicative of Godsey’s divergent circumstances at the times the albums were written. Ananta emerged while Godsey traversed the American wilderness in the aftermath of the death of her best friend. Regions of Resonance, on the other hand, is the work of someone toiling to survive in New York. My home town is glamorous and beautiful, no doubt, but it also has a way of forcing people into their heads and asking them to sharpen themselves to a fine point.

The results are no less effective. Indeed, some listeners will connect more with songs as tightly and carefully wound as “Geenie in a Bootle” or “Eustatheia”—or as metallic and cement-like as the album’s title track—than they would the more loosely emotive and meandering fare of Ananta. I can’t help but picture Godsey writing some of these songs in her head as she sits on a crowded train commuting home later than she should have had to.

None of this is to say that the album is morose or sullen. New York is a grind, but it’s also full of possibility. Godsey’s exasperated vocal lamentations on “A Cable Called Blue” encapsulate this tension well. Sure, New Yorkers may be trapped in internal struggle, and may feel like the City is unfairly casting its weight on them alone, but they’re often equally able to fall in love with each of its tiny unclaimed corners and feel like the whole town belongs only to them. For all it takes from us, the City inspires us to energize. The two-track sequence of distorted siren calls on “Honey” quickly leading into the electricity and determination of “Reverie” reflects this tension elegantly.

Godsey evidently understood the city she spent eight years in, and I imagine that like many who leave it (myself included) she probably misses it a lot of the time. After stretching to meet its vibration, it becomes hard to ever feel quite as virile or fierce once you’ve left. But the evolution between Godsey’s two records also serves as evidence that New Yorkers (including long-term transplants like Godsey) may well better enjoy the opportunity to loosen their belts outside of the pressure cooker. And that relaxed enjoyment can also be the catalyst for greater openness and more honest self-expression.

Amy Godsey – “Geenie in a Bootle” (bc)

Amy Godsey – “A Cable Called Blue”

Amy Godsey – “Eustatheia”

Amy Godsey – “Regions of Resonance”