Amber Run
5AM
April 20 2015 (RCAUK)
7.5/10
Words: Pollyanna Sheehan
After releasing a series of EPs over the last two years, Amber Run have at last released their full-length debut. Working with producer Mike Crossey (Arctic Monkeys, The 1975), what the Nottingham outfit have delivered is a record bursting with big anthemic choruses that will be lapped up and loved by crowds on their current tour and during their summer festival circuit tour.
Opener, the piano ballad ‘I Found’, strongly features Joshua Keogh’s emotive vocal with the addition of harmonies provided by his fellow band members. When combined with the simplistic chordal piano progression and minimal punctuating drumbeats, the result is a beautiful and effective. Later tracks such as ‘5AM’, and the mostly acoustic ‘Shiver’, are further displays of Keogh’s passion, sincerity and simplistic writing style that encapsulates the youthfulness of Amber Run and the relatable appeal of their music. In the instance of title track ‘5AM’, the rhythmic drumming and the exploration of synths and the addition of various electronic embellishments help to provide a calm contrast to the heavier-hitting tracks on the album.
The building chants and explosive choruses heard best on ‘Spark’, ‘Hurricane’, ‘Just My Soul Responding’ and the piano-driven ‘Noah’, come complete with lively drumming, dancing guitar melodies and driving bass-lines. All of which are key elements that have helped Amber Run to create a collection of instantly gratifying summer staples that are balanced by their reflective ballads. As Keogh professes on ‘Pilot’, “I don’t wanna be the centre of anything, just a part of something bigger”, with a debut like this, we should hopefully see Amber Run propelled into the arena of successful newcomers, where they firmly belong.
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