LE RENO AMPS
LE RENO AMPS
Glasgow, UK
Alternative / Party Rock / Come Down Country
| Status | "THE STAND OFF EP" RELEASED VIA THE IMPECCABLE DRIFT RECORDS ON MONDAY 21ST SEPTEMBER. CATCH US ON OUR UK TOUR IN SEPTEMBER! |
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Bio
Le Reno Amps were born of sorrow in the North East of Scotland. In 2004 they moved south to Glasgow to spread their joyous word, play lots of shows and write lots of songs. In 2008 they joined the ranks of Devon’s finest musical amalgam, The Drift Collective.
About
P O P M O R P H I C : B O D Y
Le Reno Amps were born of sorrow in the North East of Scotland. In 2004 they moved south to Glasgow to spread their joyous word, play lots of shows and write lots of songs. In 2008 they joined the ranks of Devon’s finest musical amalgam, The Drift Collective.
With rumours of violent band disarray and near death behind them, Drift records proudly presents Le Reno Amps new album Tear It Open, blending the LRA brand of sun soaked Scottish Indie with some hell-raising ramshackle Country. It’s perhaps a yearning for the sun that doesn't always shine in their hometown of Glasgow but just one spin of Tear It Open is enough to know that this is a chunk of fun capable of warming the cockles and stirring the soul of even the most miserable bugger.
Recorded last year with Andy Miller (Mogwai, Sons & Daughters, Scout Niblett), and supported by the Scottish Arts Council, Tear It Open marks the beginning of a new chapter in Le Reno Amps story. After 2007’s downbeat but critically praised album, So For Your Thrills…, this high-energy release manages to reconfigure their musical landscape with creative melodies and a harmonic upbeat sound with both frontmen Scott Maple and Al Nero swapping lead vocals and trading harmonies with a certain joie de vivre.
From the opening rockabilly riffage of latest single Outlaws which sees Scott Maple desperately trying to salvage his relationship with his girlfriend whilst her disapproving parents do their worst to wear him down, “…they tell her that I’m always eying other girls”, he howls, to the feisty folkish beat of If You Want A Lover, an edgy ballad with a distinct homage to the late great Johnny Cash. A homage that is also prevalent on Send Me On My Way which showcases a sterling lapsteel performance care of Marc Beatty (Brakes) and a guitar solo that would have The Tennessee Three bowled over in excitement.
Having once been described as “…the Swiss Army knife of music” (The List), it’s easy to see why with the diversity of the songs Tear It Open has to offer. You Do Your Thing, Threads and Going Under are the albums most glorious pop songs, all dealing with the ins and outs of estranged relationships – like all great pop songs do - the latter building to a climactic choral coda. Body with its finger picked acoustic and lush strings conjures up early Beck or Will Oldham mixed with Jimmy Webb to create a truly beatific centrepiece. Elsewhere Slow Decay with its syncopated stop-start rhythms and bopping chorus is executed with tight precision. The Stand Off, Dangerous Boy and album closer The Gilded Road make up a trio of darker, more sinister songs, the latter beginning as an electronic krautrock workout before a barrage of pounding rhythm and a monstrous guitar solo turn it into metal Hell - or Heaven depending on your preference! This is a band that unlike the majority of skinny-jeaned, cardigan-wearing lost boys on the indie scene, have a clear sense of their own identity and stamp it firmly all over Tear It Open.
