ECHO STREET

Several months ago I went through a few week stretch of listening everything Amplifier had released (and available to me). It's one of those bands that is very consistent in the quality of their output.

Amplifier's signature sound and style is present in all of their albums and, if you like it, you will like each album to varying degrees. Their use of guitars instead of keys to create excellent soundscapes and their somewhat unique style of vocals and song structures result and something a little different than anything else out there. "Unique" is tough to achieve, and Amplifier pulls it off, repeatedly.

Echo Street may be my favourite from a prog perspective. It's a little darker overall than their other albums and the music is top notch. It's also a little more palpable at 60 minutes versus the 120 minutes of the excellent, Octopus. When I am more interested in something "a more rock", I'll put on their first two albums.

Echo Street opens with a 5 star tune called Mantos. Guitar with delay and light vibrato creates a wonderful wall of soundscape for the opening verses. You know you are in for an interesting listening experience quite quickly

I have mixed feeling for the next track, The Wheel. While a very good song, the repetitive, and a little cliché, chorus is a little off-putting to me. Extra Vehicular launches us back into the similar vibe of the opening track.

Where the River Goes is a very good tune that's just smooth and enjoyable with some nice, rock hooks, breaking into heaviness at 4:20 or so, expanding on the dominant chord progression of the chorus. Pure classic rock feel on this one.

Paris in the Spring?.what a nice tune! A very simple, done-a-million-time chord progression begins the track, but then a vocal theme that shows again several times in the tune come up and make it interesting, before the switch to a very nice new, dark melody, soft percussion with gentle ride symbol and wonderful vocals. At 8:30, this song keeps the listener's attention throughout, all with a very good flow between the various parts.

Between Today and Yesterday is another amazing tune with a nice folk music feel with acoustic guitar, nice melodies and great harmonies. The guitar work reminds me of Mikael Åkerfeldt's acoustic work. Very nice.

The title track is a little dreamy, with delayed guitars, accompanied by bass and drums and layers of sound and muted vocals. Psychedelic in the Amplifier way. The vocal build progressively over top all the zone-out repetition.

Mary Rose concludes the album with a repetitive note bass guitar in an eastern style in the signature style of the band. The vocals follow the notes of the bass. The song then kicks into a nice new melody with some catchy motif's. Rinse, repeat. Nice, more upbeat conclusion to a fine album. "Come on, let's catch the wind by its tail." "Come on, catch the wind in your sail!"

If you've never listened to Amplifier and want to give them spin, this is as good a place as any. They have managed to create a sound of their own, and that deserves some attention.

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