REVIEW: Amoriste, 'Amoriste' EP

From listening to piano pop quartet Amoriste’s self-titled EP, one gets the impression that front man Liam Tolan fancies himself as a bit of a lyrical dandy; a nu-Morrissey, if you will. It’s a shame that the self-confessed Moz fan’s words lack the biting wit and delicate musings of that charming man and instead, so often, fall almost completely flat. Surely, music fans have progressed far enough so that they no longer find lines like “Every single bird that flies over makes me want to grow my own wings”, and the various other twee ramblings that follow about cricket and the countryside at all interesting or endearing (“This Park Is Mine”). In an attempt to capture the spirit of the quintessentially English, Tolan has succeeded only in making his beloved rural life seem rather limp and inherently annoying.

When the listener is not being bludgeoned over the head with jumpers-for-goalposts, Maypoles and old ladies serving tea at the village fete, it must be noted that Tolan’s musical accompaniment is not completely without it’s charm or nuance. The group display their sound knowledge of a pop back catalogue (little-known bands like Sparklehorse being a fairly constant reference) and the Essex boys compliment each others’ instruments with an uncommon finesse, clearly no strangers to well thought out song arrangement.

Yes, the song-after-song dramatic swells and reverberating “oh oh oh” choruses (“Berlin”) reek of Top 40 aspirations but the soundtrack shows promise and will surely not fail to please fans of “big sounding” bands like Snow Patrol, The Script, et al. and with a burgeoning fan base of squeaky clean teens following them around the circuit, Amoriste are going to be a tough bunch to shake off come 2010.