Amusement Parks on Fire - A Star Is Born EP (V2)
3/5
By: Dan Monsell
There was a time when Nottingham progressive-rock merchants Amusement Parks on Fire were best known for the fact that they were set to be 'huge' in the US, even before anyone in the UK knew them from Adam. Filter magazine bought the rights to their first US release, creating media hype in the States, while management was still trying to get Brits to give a damn at all.
And finally, the buzz paid off as the band put out their 2006 release 'Out of The Angeles' on V2 to a pleasant, if not spectacular response. This time around 'A Star Is Born' sees the band struggle to find a place for themselves in this fickle musical world, keeping their sights set firmly on the educated, discerning rock listener. While many would be frustrated at a place just below the big sales radar, APOF seem to have found a newfound comfort in making music that strives for a hopeful and individual originality, pushing at the frontiers of art-rock expectancy.
The band's strengths lie in their dramatic crescendo build-ups that eventually launch into an apocalyptic catharsis. Their ability to do this whilst maintaining a racy indie-rock framework, (albeit with seven minute long songs), puts them in league with American bands such as Secret Machines, but what separates the band out on this record is two of the tracks' softer approach; with melodic instrumentation akin to Sigur Ros, whose Icelandic studio they have suitably borrowed in the past. The four tracks on 'A Star Is Born' demonstrate a newly found solace of a band that seems to know what it really wants. While many who suffer a hype machine that does not deliver get lost in a sea of confusion, this record seems to sing the joys of a liberty, free from expectation.
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