‘Super Sonic’ songstress Alex Amor has just announced her long-due debut album, “Heavenly Bodies” – a collection of stories forged in complex grief and the signature cosmic americana sound she’s created over time. As well as this, she’s also just released the second single from the record, “Icarus”, inspired by the infamous Greek myth of the same name. We sat down one sunny afternoon to chat about her story so far – from flute camp to that all important first record and the festival slots to come.
It was a little pink CD player that kickstarted a lifelong love of music for Alex Amor. It came naturally, with no forced listening experiences imposed by her parents – the foundations of her musical education were firmly rooted in pure 2000s pop.
“I was listening to Nickelback,” she laughs, “and like KT Tunstall and Nelly Furtado and Avril Lavigne – I guess I was always really drawn to the girlies who were singer-songwriters.”
Despite this, her first foray into performing music came with classical training. Whilst growing up in Glasgow, she sang in several chamber choirs and became a dab hand on the flute.
“It was really the building blocks of learning the ins and outs of theory – I went to flute camp! It was called Tootie Fluties and so in the summer I’d just go off with all the flautists, which is where I started writing music.”
From those first tastes of the stage came a stint at Zizzi’s as a teenager (yes, you heard that right – the Italian restaurant chain).
“I’d just bring my guitar, my Roland amp and do covers – and I would busk in the city centre [Glasgow]. I remember when I did the Commonwealth Games and it was just so much better than the other days ‘cos all the tourists would just give you money.”
These opportunities gave Amor the confidence to go out and search for an agent who could give her the star treatment she desired.
“My first show, strangely, was the basement of Òran Mór, which is an amazing venue – so I don’t know what happened there! I sold like 60 tickets and everyone from school came. I did a few more shows after that and then I just decided to stop for three years – I think I got a boyfriend!”
After returning to music in her final year of university, Amor graduated from a textile design degree and moved to London after being picked up by a rapper online.
“He basically said: ‘Move to London and I’ll make you a star.’ It was so irresistible and charming, the way he said it, that I believed him. So I moved down with the caveat he’d get me a manager – which he did. He got me a manager who worked at Lidl – but then that manager ghosted me! So I was stuck and was a bit like, ‘What am I doing?’”
The aforementioned rapper who helped Amor settle down south is sadly no longer with us – and this isn’t the only loss she’s experienced since starting her musical career.
The complex grief that’s consumed her over the past few years, alongside a love of mythology and mysticism, has been a melting pot for creating some sweet melancholic music. The first single from “Heavenly Bodies”, “Meet On The Moon”, was written in the wake of losing a close friend and returning home to Glasgow. It’s a celestial, spacey tune that soars and stabs you with its sentimental lyrics of sisterhood.
Whilst she’s poured her heart out in earlier releases, these new tracks delve even deeper with a singer-songwriter sensibility.
“I went through a really difficult 2024. I’m neurodivergent and have always kind of struggled with mental health issues. I’ve always been a very deep introspective person and I guess that was coming out in the music but with like a pop sensibility, and now it’s just far more vulnerable. I think I just got to the point in my songwriting where I was finally able to translate all the darker stuff inside me and be able to give it the words it deserved.”
Having struggled with her own mental health, Amor uses her experiences to help others within her work. She is currently training to be a therapist part time, as well as working from home for a crisis helpline, spending her evenings engaging in counselling sessions and providing support for those in need.
“It’s been a really big learning curve – I honestly didn’t really know how to listen [before]. There’s a whole thing of learning how to actively listen and really tune into what someone else is saying. I definitely think my job has helped influence my writing, being constantly met with people struggling and suffering. I guess music is a way to alchemise that in a sense and to hear people’s stories of resilience and of how they deal with their own issues.”
Amor’s observant latest single “Icarus” is inspired by the frustrations of seeing a pattern of self-destruction and addiction throughout various men in her own life.
“I think I’ve had a lot of experience with men struggling with a sort of hedonism that feels good in the moment but then puts them on a downward spiral. Often women are the ones to try and save or heal and sometimes the best thing you can do is just walk away from that.”
It’s a raw track, not too dissimilar to the demo according to Amor, which leans into an ethereal americana sound with several references to the story of the same name. On the album, this love of storytelling leads into the song set directly afterwards.
“You know the end of Icarus, when he falls and drowns into the sea? The next song is talking about the Titanic and how I’m a romantic in a relationship with a realist, saying that he’s so pragmatic that he would put on his lifejacket before I drowned – it’s like a really dark joke!”
There are several other singles to be released before the record arrives, all linking into stories of love and loss. The album feels somewhat conceptual, with each song described as “chronological and immersive”, the track following “Icarus” ending with the sound of falling into the deep sea and “feeling like you’re underwater.”
“I’m a really visual person,” she explains further. “I think in visuals and I’m a conceptual person who thrives off storytelling and imagery and an emotional arc. I get lost in a story – I think I’ll be a concept girlie for the rest of my life to be honest!”
With her debut to promote, Amor’s summer will be spent up and down the country playing various festivals, having kicked off the season at Sound City Liverpool where she appeared alongside artists like Jalen Ngonda, Brooke Combe, The Lilacs and The Rolling People.
This weekend she plays a Friday set at One Church in Brighton as part of The Great Escape, the multi-venue music festival where the entire industry takes over the city. International music execs often attend to offer British artists opportunities abroad, and Amor has benefitted from this before, securing gigs in Barcelona and Istanbul after appearing at the festival several years ago.
“It’s such a vibe!” she exclaims. “I’m doing Footsteps Festival in Dalston too, so I’m just thrilled to be playing with my band and giving these songs justice. I’m buzzing. I love – love playing live.”
Based in Norwich, Cerys Hubbard is a music journalist and history nerd whose passion for rock n roll began when she was named after Cerys Matthews.
A BIMM Brighton graduate, she founded Dead Pop Mag Society to revive the chaotic fun of 80s and 90s music journalism. Her work has led to appearances on BBC Radio and interviews with rising stars at Wild Paths Festival.
When she is not writing, Cerys works at Norwich Arts Centre, where she can be found putting up posters, pulling pints, and chatting about her favourite bands to anyone who will listen.
