Intuition (2019)

by Jesse Jarnow

A sweeping introduction to an artist deep into their practice, Kendra Amalie’s Intuition is a star map to a new and developing sound space. An exploratory and shredding finger-style 12-string guitarist (both acoustic and electric), band leader, synthesist, new media creator, and experimental producer, the Wisconsin-based musician is also a songwriter occupying an ethereal zone between galaxy-brain cosmic transmissions and deep, personal expression.

There’s a concept and narrative arc to Intuition, too, the action moving from underwater locales to boat to city to global consciousness to farmland to the etheric plane and back to water. But the movements are equally a guide through the world(s) of Kendra Amalie and a culmination/transition/next step following a decade-and-change of cassettes and ambitious projects including Names Divine, 11:11, and a range of directions in collaborative improvised music and solo sound work. Shifting her music-making energies over the past several years, Intuition is the sound of a powerful new voice in focus.

The opener (and first single) “Breathe Underwater” is both an invocation and a headbanger, and--like every track on Intuition--almost nothing like any other track. Both rigorous and open-formed, Intuition contains multitudes, from the hypno-noise/freak-out/grace of “Become the Light” to the 12-string meditation “Improvisation For Mark Hollis,” from the psychedelic realizations of “Facets of a Holy Diamond” to the pedal steel-touched “Stay Low.”

Recorded with friends in her shed in Saint Francis, Intuition’s band included a core rhythm section of drummer Victoria Robison and bassist Sam Cook, with remote support from Taralie Peterson (cello), Al Moss (pedal steel), Peter McLaughlin (drums) and Jayve Montgomery (oboe), alongside the mixing effort of long-time collaborator Brian J. Sulpizio in Chicago. The live iteration of the album is more shape-shifting, encompassing solo performances accompanied by motion-controlled synths as well as more fully supported by a corporeal rock band. Intuition is a sound-based cross-section of a larger body of work. An arrival and a destination, Intuition is also surely a stopover, too. Meet Kendra Amalie.

Nigel Williamson, Uncut

Kendra Amalie’s Two Rivers mixtape (as Kendraplex) is already one of my favorite releases of 2022, but even with its expansive scope and all the wide shadows it casts, it still only scratches the surface of her bottomless well of talent. Amalie’s 2019 debut, Intuition, glides effortlessly across aerated surfaces as easily as it will shred any landscape into a glittering nothingness. Her songs have an old spirit baked in, but Amalie looks to dig through any morass to find that right zone to lock onto. Back to Two Rivers, though, and the groove she etches out with hypnotic organ explorations and holographic voice stretches are an excellent development, promising new skin to shed. Foxy Digitalis 



Neil Kulkarni for The Wire

As Amalie demonstrates, a musician—or anyone else—needn’t have any large-scale infrastructure to contribute their own effort. Pitchfork

Recorded within the confines of her shed in the city of St. Francis in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, there is something undeniably primitive about Intuition, the debut album from the American singer-songwriter, 12-string guitarist and experimental artist Kendra Amalie. By the time that Intuition reaches ‘Become The Light’ any sense of austerity and annihilation has long since been banished as Kendra Amalie’s lightning-rod guitar conducts with Taralie Peterson’s cello and the song builds into a glorious mid-section crescendo. The more avant, free-form expressionism of ‘Improvisation for Mark Hollis’ and ‘Look At The Light (Source)’ – complete with its rather delightful false ending and pedal steel coda – highlight Kendra Amelie’s tremendous versatility and confidence over a wide range of sonic structures and bring to a close a debut offering of immense promise. God Is In The TV

A striking statement and debut that's murky, messy and lived-in. Kendra Amalie splits the difference between brainy, full-band freakazoid rock and heady 12-string burn-outs. NPR

Her multifaceted sonic personality lands well because of her focused vision. Whether she's dazzling on fingerstyle guitar, singing a sinister pop song, or experimenting with synths and droning feedback, all the elements carry her distinctive stamp and fit together in the strange but welcoming landscape of Intuition. Fred Thomas, All Music

Amalie’s solo debut LP takes a fresh stab at elements of American Primitivism and folk rock, as well as psychedelic and ambient music. She then twists each omultifaceted sonic personality lands well because of her focused vision. Whether she's dazzling on fingerstyle guitar, singing a sinister pop song, or experimenting with synths and droning feedback, all the elements carry her distinctive stamp and fit together in the strange but welcoming landscape of Intuition.f them apart and mutates them all together into a wholly unique beast. Amalie proves again and again across the record that she and her craft cannot be pigeonholed. Whatever expectations or preconceptions the listener may have will be completely—and wonderfully—demolished. Record Crates United