LE RENO AMPS - LP

Aberdeen band currently based in Glasgow with a 12 track album that’s actually quite a range of styles but with a pop-punk seam running right through the middle. A track such as ‘Get U Wet’ reminded me a bit of Buzzcocks ‘What Do I Get’ while ‘2nd Look’ with its more sedate demeanour, soaring harmonies, down-to-earth lead vocal and marching rhythms, brought out my desire to hear an old Nick Lowe song, although, for now, this will do nicely. As you can see there’s a distinct seventies flavour to this album but in reality it’s more contemporary sounding than that would suggest. As a set of songs, it’s a treat – lyrics are fine, harmonies and lead vocals are excellent and there’s a definite touch of Beatles in amongst its more angst-ridden realms. ‘Once You Know’ sounds like something Jonathan Richman might have done on a late seventies Modern Lovers album as long as he had a troop of Greek Cossack dancers in tow while ‘Loosen Up’ lights up the skies with a guitar-driven slice of pop-punk that conveys a feel of vintage Flamin’ Groovies and you could almost imagine them having overdosed on “Shake Some Action” before writing this one, although at only one and a half minutes, it’s more a flavour than an influence. Elsewhere it continues to be consistent while constantly varied – from an acoustic ballad to a rampaging two minute song that’s just guitar and vocals, while the slowly drawling ballad that is the harmony-laden ‘She Walks On Fire’ being an almost countrified slice of “Americana”. Basically, if you like a good song delivered with passion and a sense of fun by an electro-acoustic band of guitars, bass and drums that’s more in keeping with late seventies post-new wave song-writing and contemporary Americana, then this is for you.

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