Numb Again’ might be Amy Katt’s debut single, but they arrive a fully formed artist with a vicious and fresh track that snarls and tears its way across the two and a half minute run time. The razor-sharp production sounds like the Prodigy tearing Machine Gun Kelley apart in the ring, with Yungblud screaming from one corner and Nova Twins from the other. It’s a visceral modern sound, mixing synths and programmed drums with Travis Baker-eque live drums and tight crunchy guitars that have to have been played through walls and walls of Marshall stacks.
Amy Katt is centred around long time collaborators Amy Katt and Sam Hargraves. After the dissolution of a previous project, Sam and Amy made the decision to start a new and focus on music that was initially solely designed to satiate their own creative hungers and desires. Stepping away from the normal 4 or 5 piece band paradigm this allowed the pair to keep their ideas focused and true to an overall creative vision. Having bonded over a love of heavy metal, emo and rock bands, all these influences got threw into the grinder and spat back out as something entirely new and their own. Their writing process is an entirely collaborative one, with either Sam or Amy bringing in lyrics, a melody or chord progression and building the track up piece by piece.
On the record Sam is responsible for all the drum and guitar tracks, freeing Amy up to add layers and layers of her inimitable vocals to the track. Lyrically ‘Numb Again’ touches on some heavy and difficult subjects covering a toxic relationship which leads to a spiralling negativity and self-medicating with alcohol. Amy delivers an emotionally raw vocal performance, moving between a fully melodic delivery and layers of screams mixed into the chorus that makes you feel as though you’re in the vocal booth with her, gripping the mic and singing three inches from your face.
At two and a half minutes the track bears not even an ounce of fat, an approach the pair were keen to adopt. Consciously picking through sections and being brutal when identifying what wasn’t adding to the track or wasn’t a hook. This yielded a focused track that still maintains dynamics, hooks and punch. ‘Numb Again’ was produced and engineered by Tayte Nikols, someone they have consistently worked with and another trusted voice in the production process, even going as far as to play bass on the track. Tayte’s production lends itself perfectly to ‘Numb Again’, almost becoming another instrument on the track, an exclamation mark or expletive when needed to help punctuate sections.
Despite having Amy’s name on the masthead, neither Amy or Sam feel any additional pressure to meet the weight that might be associated with performing under Amy’s name. Both agreed to unify behind a single name but still maintain the supportive relationship. Amy explains she never feels like she’s alone or out on a limb and both agree that this is the most rewarding and mature approach to being in a band and writing together to date.
The band have made a video to accompany the tracks that adds in additional band members to help bring the song to life, an energetic and powerful whirling dervish that reflects the energy of the track back and hints at what an Amy Katt live show might be like.
‘Numb Again’ has the sound of artist confident and unafraid in their approach, a snarling beast of a song that basks in the high production valve and acts as a catharsis to expunge demons associated with the lyrical content. This is not the sound of a debut single, this is the sound of a fully fledged artist.