Ampline 2

Ampline

Rosary

Sofaburn

Ampline’s second album finds the band as a trio, with Mike Montgomery on guitar, Rick McCarty on drums, and Kevin Schmidt on bass. The sound is slightly different, too: not indie rock turning to jazz, but straightforward, hard-charging, frantic indie rock.

It’s excellent, still instrumental, but with a few short tracks as sound and mood setters that are great changes of pace, a bit of a breather before racing off in a new direction.

What also has changed from their first album is words, not really sung, more like chanted. One example is “Two Hands.” “Two hands to hold you so tight so you won’t forget.” Another is, “Know that at this moment there is nothing special for you to do. There are no demands placed upon you, no expectations. There is no one to please, no one to satisfy.” These are reminiscent of the spoken words on Game Theory’s album Lolita Nation: “You can pick the game, if you can, when you know what it is you’re doing. But when you know what it is you’re doing, then you despise it.”

All in all, this album builds on the wonderfulness of their debut, The Choir, as it is just as wonderful, just as much fun to listen to, thrilling, and powerful. These guys can play.

Andrea Weiss