… Brandon’s strange but sophisticated approach to composition ... She makes use of microtonality, geometry and rhythmic modulation purely as a means to an end, forgoing any impulse to demonstrate these principles to the listener to focus on producing music that resembles natural phenomena in their manner of operation ... Dynamics and intonation are used to ferocious effect, making the music advance and retreat, snapping in and out of focus as though under a zoom lens ... these outbursts are made more effective by sudden, striking gestures whose abruptness and inventiveness make any poignancy feel earned.

https://www.cookylamoo.com/boringlikeadrill/2024/09/natural-sounds-amy-brandon-lia-kohl-anthony-vine.html

— Ben Harper, Boring Like A Drill.

Canadian guitarist/composer Amy Brandon has created a fantastical series of journeys with her latest album Lysis .. Brandon nails the deconstruction aspect in an almost delicious spectacle of all things human and otherworldly … Simulacra, the album’s JUNO-nominated show-stopper for cello solo and orchestra … with its dynamic and driving rhythms, sets up a virtuosic and melodic cello line that soars into stratospheric heights and returns to the depths. Cellist Jeffrey Zeigler pulls out all the stops with a stunning, heroic performance.

https://www.thewholenote.com/index.php/booksrecords2/moderncontempo/33762-amy-brandon-lysis-various-artists

— Cheryl Ockrant, The Whole Note

“The fifth song of the night, cloud path, was composed by Amy Brandon. It held its fair share of drama and mystery, however they were not as pronounced or striking as in the other pieces performed …”

— Sophia Foglia for The Charlatan, 2022

"The second highlight of the night came from Amy Brandon. Her 3 Portraits for Orchestra is a sonic roller coaster through tension and release. The calm of a low string drone spreads into a web of anxiety through strenuous groans before resolving into a lustrous sound bath. With stabs of solo cello spurring way for gut-wrenching and horrific swells, Brandon’s timbral palate could humble even seasoned composers .."

— Sarah Jo Kirsch for Critipeg, 2019

“Another standout from the Orchestral Voices of the Future concert was 3 Portraits, a work by Halifax composer Amy Brandon inspired by a dying godmother. It opened with extended bass and cello lines before giving way to a sweeping romantic melody that resolved beautifully. Brandon even managed to sneak in a cello solo so fabulously weird that some of the players onstage were visibly laughing …”

— Daniel Emberg for Musicworks, 2018

"The music was unsettling, but that wasn’t a bad thing. It was anxiety-inducing at times, but a full-body reaction to music is usually the sign of something worth hearing. Amy Brandon played a standard guitar with, what was that, a scrub brush? And suddenly she transported us to an icy, barren, electro-alien planet.  It was strange. It was incomprehensible. It was so completely and utterly brand new to my ears.

— Annie Corrigan for Sound Symposium, 2018

"Otherworldly and meditative ... one wonders whether geography of the coastal North Atlantic may have influenced Brandon in her creative orchestration of this clashing of bleakness with beauty ... [her] compositions succeed, as all excellent music does, in conjuring a palpable and astonishing mood."

— Alan Fark for Minor 7th, 2017

“... a quietly singular figure ... it’s nearly impossible to think of any cohabitants of her very particular universe ... Brandon’s phrasing is as nimble as it is Delphic, tracing uneven coils that swiftly fall inward ... the harmonic fabric is peculiar, skillfully woven from disparate stray fibres. Scavenger is strongest and most magical when Brandon’s enigmatic personality comes through without any adulteration ... it disorients its audience, surreptitiously enveloping the listener in rich, unfamiliar surroundings."

— Nick Storring for Musicworks, Fall 2016