Amp could almost be the UK’s musical answer to BHP—the quiet achiever. Steadily recording a slew of releases, since their debut in 1992, for labels such as Kranky, Wurlitzer Jukebox and Space Age Recordings. Amp summons the spirit of Spacemen 3 (there is a cover of So Hot [Wash Away all Of My Tears] included here), Loop, MBV, Fairport Convention, Serge Gainsbourg & Morton Feldmann in equal measure. This three CD retrospective of non-album tracks, rarities and outtakes is an essential piece of listening, even to a relative neophyte to their work. As any decent retrospective should, the styles presented within vary wildly over the bands fifteen-year career.
Core duo of Richard Amp and Karine Charff have collaborated with a virtual who’s who of the UK’s more cosmically minded musicians over the course of Amp’s transmissions; Matt Elliot (Third Eye Foundation, Flying Saucer Attack), Ray Dickaty (Moonshake, Spiritualized) and Matt Jones (Movietone, Crescent), to name only a few. Dream-pop, field recordings, trip hop, ambient, electronic and space-rock are all facets of the Amp sound showcased to stunning effect on All of Yesterday Tomorrow. When freak-folk was simply an unrelated string of words waiting for a music critic to unite them in a convenient shorthand, Amp were delving into the underbelly of a mostly unappreciated sound—harking back to the apocalyptic folk of Shirley & Dolly Collins and traditional ballads.
‘Remember’ from 1995, starts off with a typical psychedelic drone, changing form abruptly into shoegazing heaven; all clashing chords wrapped in gauze. De-tuned gamelans litter ‘Alightfarout’, before the descent of a cloying isolationist bass line. Karine’s overwrought French vocals collapse in on themselves on the previously unreleased ‘Silencer’ from 2000. ‘Le Revenant’ should really be used on a soundtrack to a film by Krzysztof Kieslowski. A cover of the Silver Apples’ ‘Seagreen Serenades’ is akin to listening to a half-remembered children’s show from the dawn of television, underwater. Discarded from 2005’s ‘Us’ LP, ‘Televisonface’ is Richard Amp unadorned, without collaborators; cracked whispered/shouted vocals low in the mix, off-key keys and an insistent guitar.
At times wonderfully wonky, inspired and blissful, Amp’s mission “to make ways for the song and the sound to be joined in harmony, where each is equal” is certainly well documented on All of Yesterday Tomorrow, bringing together early, battered cassette releases, fan boy 7”s and discarded cul-de-sacs of musical experimentation. A timely retrospective from this under-rated and shadowy outfit who have never been content with stasis.
Oliver Laing
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