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A lot
of the bands nowadays try to make emotional music built up around
soundscapes. Radiohead, Sigur Ros, Porcupine Tree and Pineapple
Thief could fall under that definition. If you make a blend of these
bands and yet establish a recognizable ‘own’ sound, you’re nominated
for the category of great bands. And The Amber Light is one of these
nominees.
The
first song “A New Atlantis” is a perfect example of a song built
around a soundscape. It starts very quiet with only vocals and
keyboards. After two minutes the rest of the band joins in and it
changes into a more Pineapple Thief oriented song, especially the
piano gives that feeling. At the end it turns back to the quieter
moments, this time accompagnied by an acoustic guitar.
“Tartaros”, one of the best tracks on the album, starts with a lot
of bass and some drums, but the structure of the song is about the
same as most of the tracks. This doesn’t mean there’s no variation
on the album. It’s only the way the emotion grows within the tracks
that has some simularities. Almost every track starts quiet and has
an emotional outbreak in the middle or at the end of the song.
After a
relaxing break with “Devil Song”, “Gangsters” is a totally different
story. It’s heavier than the rest, with a great bass riff and some
Hammond organ. Louis Gabbiani sings in a different style than on the
other tracks. You can almost call it narrative singing. In the
middle, the track suddenly gets a jazzy groove, the lyrics change
into Italian and the song even ends in a chaos in real King Crimson
style.
“Hide
Inside” is another great track in real Pineapple Thief style, with
superb vocals by Louis, whose voice sounds somewhere between Mark
Hollis (Talk Talk) and Steve Hogarth (Marillion).
The
last two tracks are the two longest of which especially “New Day”,
again with Italian lyrics, is the masterpiece, to which you keep on
listening.
A great
new band from Germany who score very high with their first full
album. (They already had an EP entitled
'As They Came They Slightly Disappeared')
The Amber Light, a
name to cherish. |
