Another Form of Relief

The Amateurs are the latest addition to the roster of Letterbox Records, home of The Arrogants. While I’ve never been able to get into The Arrogants, there is something here in the sound of The Amateurs that is far more appealing to me. The band is a six piece from Edinburgh who have apparently been playing together since 2003, and now that they have a label are busy preparing their debut album, due out next month.

Being a Scottish based twee pop band will inevitably draw comparisons with Belle & Sebastian, particularly with their gentle male-female vocal changes, but this is no bad thing. I’d rather have a bunch of new bands that sound like B&S than The Arctic Monkeys or anyone else that is the current flavour of the week. Still, to limit the comparison to just B&S is unfair to The Amateurs. While there are similarities, they do also bring their own sound to the proceedings, particularly on a well developed song like ‘Trouble Brewing’. ‘Things You Only Know If You Don’t Drive’ is what led me to them though, and it’s by far my favourite song here. It’s so wonderfully twee that even though it runs out of steam a little while before the end, it’s pretty much the musical definition of pure joy.

MP3 The Amateurs - Things You Only Know If You Don’t Drive (expired)
MP3 The Amateurs - Trouble Brewing (expired)
MP3 The Amateurs - Your Birthday (expired)

The Amateurs: Website || Myspace

A hat tip (if I had a hat) to Tim Young over at The Face of Today for putting me onto The Amateurs. Go over there and listen to his Voxtrot cover.