It’s always a cause for celebration whenever the
mighty Amplifier put out a record. 2017 saw them return with their sixth
full-length offering, Trippin’ With Dr
Faustus (as well as with a lovely little ep, entitled, simply, Record). I’ll rush to buy anything that they put out, for two reasons. First, their debut still remains, 13 years
on, my favourite album ever by a country-mile; second, I think they perhaps are
my favourite live band. For all that
kudos in my own personal musical landscape, however, there’s no question that
the last two records (especially 2013’s Echo
Street) have seen a dip in quality. In that context, Trippin’ With Dr
Faustus represents a much-welcome step forward. It doesn’t come close to the debut (nothing
does for me), but it’s easily Amplifier’s
best record since their sprawling double-album The Octopus in 2011. Hooray! Perhaps the biggest strength of Trippin’ With Dr Faustus is that it
seems that Amplifier finally may have
given up on trying to make what they do palatable. They ultimately are a prog-rock band, albeit
one that’s tended to have a penchant for Soundgarden-like
riffs. This new offering for the most
part remains ‘heavy’ and still does contain some banging-of-head worthy moments,
but they’re buried amongst swirling effects, multiple duelling guitar lines,
weird timings and crazy tunings. This comfortably
is their most progressive work, and they seem really to be enjoying the freedom. The ‘prog’ focus of Trippin’ With Dr Faustus isn’t just limited to complex space-operatics,
either. They clearly are exploring here
in a wider sense too. ‘Anibus’, for
example, punctuates the album’s density beautifully, offering a simple acoustic
country ditty – notably different to anything they’ve done before. ‘Old Blue Eyes’ combines a very detuned, effects-smothered bass
line with a banjo (um, huh), and the peppering of Beth Bishop’s quality guest
vocals throughout numerous tracks (another sign of the band venturing into
uncharted territory on this record) adds melody and heart to the mania. The price
of all this exploration is, inevitably, accessibility. At times Trippin’ With Dr Faustus can’t help but disappear
up its own behind (the messy outro to ‘Big Daddy’ surely was unnecessary…). Indeed,
there’s so much going on that even the biggest Amplifier fan will need multiple listens to make much sense of it
all. For those so inclined, though, the rewards of perseverance will be significant. They remain one of the best bands on the
planet.
sample track: Kosmos (Grooves Of Triumph)