AMBER RUN have a bloody misleading name. Amber is a colour of averageness. And running is something that you do when you want to get away from something. After listening to the album (over and over and over again, by choice), I can confirm that the band are far from average, and after just one listen, you’ll be wanting to listen over, and over, and over again.
“I Found” kicks off the anthemic journey, sounding like the coolest Indie choir you’ve ever heard. Stunning harmonies, pretty much all led by a sparse piano riff. Oh, and Joe’s incredibly powerful vocal – seriously, it’s like he’s got a ten man choir locked in that vocal box of his.
“Spark” is up next. I think it’s fair to say that this track contains one of the catchiest refrains we’ve heard in years. When we saw AR play a sold-out Rock City crowd supporting SAINT RAYMOND a few months ago, it was insane just how anthemic “let the light in, let the light in” became. There were about 2000 peeps shouting (don’t know if we can call it singing) it back to the band, at a gig that wasn’t even theirs. A special Notts music moment.
“Hurricane” is probs my favourite track off the album. Poppy, yes. Anthemic, yes. Sounds a bit like U2 (pre-Bono ending up his own backside), yes. I can totally imagine belting this at the top of my lungs during festival season. Thankfully for you, the speakers will probs be too loud for you to hear me… can’t say the same for my neighbours during the home shoutalongs though.
“Noah” was the first song I heard by Amber, back in July 2013. I was stunned then. Two years later, and it still sounds epic. Actually, it sounds even more epic now than it did back then. It’s hard to describe why, but it’s just more powerful. And, whilst listening with headphones, it kinda sounds like Joe’s talking straight to you. Like an audiobook, but one that’s sung. But that technically means it’s just a song… but it’s more than that… oh just listen and you’ll get what I mean.
The second half of the album you definitely feel a change in direction. The pace slows a bit, and things get a bit more sentimental. Put it this way, if there were any tracks on here you were gonna put on your “chilled bangers” Spotify playlist, you’d find them in the latter half.
You may have noticed me repeating one specific word a few times throughout this review… in fact you may have noticed me repeating a few words – powerful, epic, anthemic. And that’s cos, they’re the words that I’d use to sum up this album. You can tell a lot of heart and soul has been put into making this 12 track masterpiece, and it really leaves you feeling something… I guess you could say it’s just my soul responding…
You can now buy the album on iTunes HERE. We’ll let you know if we hear of any Nottingham record shops stocking it.
Yours in Love of New Music,
Sam Nahirny x
