Touching Extremes (IT)

Amplifier Machine’s Her Mouth Is An Outlaw is a nice collection of somnolent tunes, typically erected upon reiterative guitar chords washed in long reverb, slightly disturbed by small, apparently unconnected noises. Indeed all three members – Seth Rees, James Dixon, Alex Jarvis – play an axe somewhere; other instruments include drums, violin, piano and “Korg” (what model of “Korg” we’ll never know). Being this trio a meeting of songwriters, no surprise then that the tracks are vividly reminiscent of the memorisable qualities of an extremely simple air: everything moves leisurely and predictably, the harmonic basis practically equivalent from a piece to another, the brain veritably lulled in comfortable stupor. Some of the atmospheres, principally in the title track, bring to mind Twin Peaks (a commonplace, yet true). The real jewel is “Pockets Full Of Red Dirt”, a hypnotic kneading of the cranium via sub-bass frequencies that the speakers just can’t contain, letting them free to multiply around the place and choke the blissful victim from behind. Not a work of genius, but a pleasurable record for sure.