The Unit Ama: Toward

With some bands, all you have to do is look at a photo to catch an air of what they are all about. The Unit Ama strike me as a band where everything, from sound to ethos, simply lines up. Everyone is drawn to a certain aesthetic, of course, and the black and white tones of the above photo unveils a mystique and fuck-everything-else that’s going-on-around-us kind of deal. No bullshit charades, just lock, load, and deliver.  

Featuring Steve Malley (guitar/vocals), Jason Etherington (bass) and Christian Alderson (drums), The Unit Ama released their self-titled debut in 2007, and in many respects, it was one of the releases that unlocked the gates to what would become the New Weird Britain movement. The Unit Ama didn’t much care for being the leading lights, instead drifting off into fey obscurity and spending the ensuing years drip-feeding their audience with singles and the odd live show with the likelihood of a second album receding with each passing day.

Abstract and ambiguous, The Unit Ama’s diesel-powered mélange of post-hardcore, jazz and post-rock was bent into beautiful shapes and sizes during the ensuing 16 years, with many bands across the U.K. underground (including the likes of Sweet Williams and Bilge Pump) harnessing and refining the sonic maelstrom originally conceived by the band within the studio walls of their North East habitation.

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And while sonically Toward isn’t the greatest shift, lyrically the much anticipated follow-up record is a world apart from its predecessor. Personal growth is always a decent yardstick to separate the good from bad; those bands always reaching for past glories the ones easiest to shun. The only way to succeed is by moving forward, and the stories that bind together Toward are indicative of a band shifting their creative endeavours into a completely new landscape.

Recorded by Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs guitarist Sam Grant at his Blank Studios, with the mastering duties undertaken by none other than Stephen Kerrison (The Lichen Slow, Remote Viewing et al), Toward marks a timely return, not least because of the reasons noted above, but simply because this is a band that is putting their best foot forward in every aspect.

Starting with Sycamore. A track that has been kicking around in various forms for years, Grant captures the burning intensity of the song’s live version with riffs that fly off Malley’s guitar like sparks from a severed cable.

Next is Stirrup – a raw freakout with quiet/ loud build-ups that dance anxiously along the fault lines. It bleeds into Observe Yourself – a no-nonsense track with a galloping drive that maintains the raw energy of the band’s blistering live show. It also unearths the first jarring passage during Toward, underlining a childhood innocence (“I never knew what class I was / I never knew the difference”).

It continues with Body Keeps the Score. A graceful number that swells with drama, led by Alderson’s hushed rhythms and Malley’s creeping riffs, Body Keeps the Score slowly unravels into what is actually a love song (“Take me away from here / Only towards what I might have been / As these shapes draw ever nearer / I feel my eyes grow dim / Are you the one that I’ve been waiting for?”).

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It’s the perfect gateway into Collector – an electrifying number that is essentially a panoramic view of The Unit Ama’s world. A track that cracks and rumbles with the kind of creative vigour that sees The Unit Ama reach their creative peak.

And the band remain there with the harrowing Mary in what is The Unit Ama’s most explicit song written yet. (“As he threw your body down, a feather hit the ground / Who broke the fall?”). So close to the bone, it’s hard to fathom how the band would finish, but with the one-two combo of The Folding Man and New Page, they maintain the kind of outward messaging that makes this return as honest and invigorating as any other release out there.

On New Page, The Unit Ama illuminate the most defiant message of all (“Will I ever heal this body’s state/ Or will I just evaporate”. It’s a song that can only be written on the back of dark moments lived. A post-traumatic growth that so many in this world fail to grapple with for so many reasons, not limited to broken support systems via friends, family or those in need of direct help from an ever-ailing health service that continues to be hamstrung by a callous Tory government.

New Page is key end to an album that flickers with new vignettes every time you listen. While the Ineson brothers dominated the U.K. underground in 2022, returning to the new music sphere with two outstanding releases as All Structures Align (of which Haress’ David Hand also provided the artwork to), with Toward, The Unit Ama has kept the torch of the U.K.’s outsider culture burning well into the night.

Toward is out now via Gringo Records. Purchase from Bandcamp.