Amplifier

Echo Street

Kscope, 2013

Amplifier have crafted an arty and occasionally splashy record with their fourth release, Echo Street.

This is an ambitious release. With psychedelic flair, spaced out atmospheric prog rock, and acoustic musings, the band challenge themselves and their listeners with each and every track.

“The Wheel” is a bit of trippy, would be 70’s sci fi soundtrack guitar workout. Dark as space itself and twice as moody as said space crew in need of a woman’s soft caress, the song seems to channel a little bit of everything here.

“Extra Vehicular” Clocks in at ten minutes and was inspired by Felix Baumgartner falling to Earth. It’s the sort of track that could be right at home on Pink Floyd’s Meddle. Trippy and transcendent, epic and outsized, the whole thing seems almost too big for the middle of the record. It rises and falls, like the sea settling after a storm.

“Where the River Goes” starts off as a quiet folky acoustic number, that grows into a heavier spaced out rock workout.

“Between Today and Yesterday,” is an all acoustic song, allowing the band to look inward, a pensive and surprisingly mellow song.

There’s no one size fits all approach to the songwriting here. With a great variety of songs, and a rich palette of textures and sounds, makes this a album stand apart from other, similar acts.