Le Reno Amps - The Stand Off
Scott Maple's instantly recognisable vocals are littered with knife-edge witticisms and a heart-on-sleeve honesty sorely missing from many of their peers.
Professing to make tracks "with all the fat cut off so you can savour their buttery goodness", Scotland's Le Reno Amps have been building a steady following since they first cropped up some five years ago. With their latest EP, this 'brand development' looks set to continue.
Already tipped by the BBC and other major players in the broadcasting world, it's easy to see why people love the witty four-piece. Their tight and traditional indie sound falls on the right side of familiar, whilst Scott Maple's instantly recognisable vocals are littered with knife-edge witticisms and a heart-on-sleeve honesty sorely missing from many of their peers. The EP opens with 'The Stand Off', a song deserving of its pole position thanks to some pretty colossal riffs and a very catchy chorus. Telling the story of a love gone wrong, the sincerity of the subject contrasts with some wry songwriting, ensuring the whole thing stays well away from sugar-coated nonsense.
'Liars' brings things down a notch. The simple combination of acoustic scales, stretched backing vocals and wispy, almost choral harmonies come together to offer something that is at once retrospective and perhaps melancholic, but infinitely listenable. What's more, it feels as 1960s Americana-cum-journeyman-cum-Velvets as anything this year - think Fleet Foxes and you're nearly in the right ball-park.
Full marks must go to closer 'Rowboat', which ups the pace again, but scarcely beyond the lackadaisical pace that makes the whole, stepping anthemic affair feel like the end of a dance in a pub. "Pick me up, give me some alcohol" drawls the chorus. Our sentiments exactly. Grass roots indie-folk-rock with a double Scotch? Yes please.
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