New Single: Amber - Heaven

It must be cos they’re young. And that I am beginning to get middle-aged. I mean, I was interviewing some people at work a week or so ago and in an unwary moment described the 22-year-old applicants as ‘kids’. Well Amber are that fresh-faced and we’ve already featured them three times. They put themselves about a bit this lot.

This fourth mention sees little to remark on. In the intervening period they’ve just quit Uni and signed to Sony’s imprint RCA Victor. They’ve got a new single out on Monday 25 November (which you can listen to below), and they’ve added an extra tour date in Leeds since our last update, playing The Cockpit on Friday 1 November. Layabouts…

There’s always a danger with a band like this, that because they make music without nastiness or cynicism they can be dismissed as lightweight – criticism of that nature has been levelled at the likes of Keane, Coldplay (I’m not inviting any sympathy BELIEVE ME) and a million other indie rock acts down the years. So, after the prettiness of “Little Ghost” it’s probably no bad thing to be putting something out that has a little bit of extra noise and thrust. Don’t get me wrong – this is still songwriting that values swoop and swoon above crunch and clatter, but there is more rock in the guitars and more rasp in the voice this time around. Having said all of that, it’s that vocal-only break-down from 3:00 onwards that is going to keep people coming back to this time and again. Very well-judged closing…