AMBER RUN
“What Amber Run does is move between the heavier and delicate music and being able to touch both of those places is what makes this really fun.” - Joe Keogh - lead vocals, guitar
Last month, Toronto welcomed UK band Amber Run back to the city to play the Horseshoe Tavern.
The British indie rock band flew to the great north after wrapping up playing in major cities in Europe, right before they went on to tour the states. It’s an understatement to say we were excited #thesix was one of the top picks for debuting the release of their third album, Philophobia.
“Therapeutic is a good way to describe writing the album…” says Joe. “We try to always be truthful and honest in our experiences and lyrically there’s very few holds barred.” True to their word, we hear delicacies of uncensored heart moments sang to moody chords and a room full of people singing back to the band at the Horseshoe.
The authenticity of the album lies in the strum of every chord and in the expression of every word, for which we are hanging on at every corner. At its core, the album exposes what love is, what it does and how we are as a result of when love happens to us or when we love someone. It provokes thought, epitomizing the storms that create a beautiful and irresistible tension. Philophobia is in many ways polysemic, encapsulating emotion in whatever that might look like for you and here lies the organic nature of the album—what you want to take away from it, is yours to feel and keep.
Joe says that, “there is a good and bad side to everything but there’s a whole other grey area in between and the album is simply an exploration of human relationships.”
New singles like ‘The Darkness Has A Voice’ is upbeat and musically, is an ode to what the band grew up playing and what runs in their DNA - rock. On another note, lyrics like “love to me has been as bad as good” and “I’ve been drowning in the water that you’re walking on” in ‘Affection’, toys with our heart strings on a whole other level. We can’t help but be part of the intense conversation of the giving and taking away of love and from one extreme to another, we get to hear how diverse and talented Amber Run really are.
I sensed Joe had a soft spot for Toronto and with only a few days to go before the sold-out show, he said, “when you come to a country and you feel this much love, it makes you want keep coming back and do more”. I’ve no doubt the band will be welcomed back in the near future.
Bethany Browne