Yes, an album preview. I’ll review it when it’s out. Basically I wanted to get you all a heads up on this band because I love them. We put them on at Joy once before and have them playing in Le Pub on Thursday 2nd April. Come along.
Drift Records proudly presents the wonderful new album from explosive Glasgow four piece Le
Reno Amps. With rumours of violent band disarray and near death behind them Tear It Open blends their own unique 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 highenergy 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.
“What Violent Femmes would sound like if they listened to Super Furry Animals” – DROWNED IN SOUND
“…hits you like you’ve just gone out in L.A. with Johnny Depp and that girl from the drugstore, and montaged your way through one of the best nights ever” – NEW NOISE
“Country-Punk with a smidgeon of Power-Pop. It’s like the Everly Brothers teaming up with The Pixies, whilst Tom Waits and Weezer try and get a word in” – VIC GALLOWAY, RADIO 1
“They’re rooted in the blues with a punk aesthetic, but veer boldly into country balladry and sexually explicit punk numbers” – THE HERALD
“A sound referencing the likes of Buzzcocks, the La’s and most notably (and most thrillingly) Violent Femmes” – ROCKFEEDBACK
“…they’re worthy of The Shins poignancy.” – PLANET SOUND (CHANNEL 4)
As previously stated, Le Reno Amps are playing a joy collective gig in Le Pub on 2nd April. King Alexander, Cottonmouth Rocks and Lil Deaths support. Tickets are £3 advance from Diverse and £4 on the door. There’s a Facebook event here.
