Amber Arcades is the moniker of Dutch-born musician Annelotte de Graaf. De Graaf first started writing songs in 2010 while temporarily living in Philadelphia. Back in the Netherlands she put out a first EP in 2012 containing soft-voiced, melancholic folk ballads.
Wanting to develop her sound and mature from the safe bedroom folk environment, she got in touch with producer Ben Greenberg (Beach Fossils, The Men, Destruction Unit) to produce a collection of songs she had written over the years. In May 2015, de Graaf flew out to New York to record the songs in the Strange Weather recording studio in Brooklyn, backed by a band consisting of members of Real Estate, Quilt and Kevin Morby.
The result is a record that is as dreamy and esoteric as it is gripping, presenting slightly off, floating pop melodies over a mixture of kraut-inspired drums, cutting guitars and fuzzed-out organs.
Leading up to the release of the full-length album in spring 2016 on Heavenly Recordings, Amber Arcades is releasing the Patiently EP containing several stripped-down versions of album-tracks as well as some extra, lo-fi recordings.