AMBER SMITH - Reprint

Rock globalization: they take their name from an American porno pin-up, they play pop-rock that couldn't get any more Brit, and they record for the German label Kalinkaland, yet Amber Smith, believe it or not, hail from Budapest and step into the spotlight with this, their second album (the first, "My Little Servant" from 2003, is a real little gem), boasting the presence of an exceptional godfather at their side in Robin Guthrie, mastermind of the much-missed Cocteau Twins, here acting as producer and additional guitarist.

The Hungarian quartet led by singer and songwriter Imre Ponliko sharpens the electric edge of its sound, but steers clear of jumping on the new wave revival bandwagon (indeed, at this point we could talk about a revival of the revival, given that the new generation has started cloning Interpol too), offering instead an honest and refreshingly direct guitar-pop, simple and melodic, full of ideas and inspiration.

The welcome comes courtesy of the soft, insistent electronic pulse of "Chemistry/Arithmetic", over which Ponliko slyly narrates a story with thrilling overtones, before a guitar bacchanal takes over the scene and leads into the single "Hello Sun", the perfect pop-song. It must be said that Ponliko isn't particularly gifted melodically or vocally, but the band as a whole proves capable of painting evocative scenes with great ease, delivering a thoroughly enjoyable listen along the way.

Amber Smith's songs are constantly poised between serenity and nostalgia, unafraid to charge headlong down the "easiest" path; in any case, the band almost always manages to dodge the traps of predictability thanks to small irregularities that occasionally surface, like the sudden acceleration that rescues the otherwise slightly dull "Holograms" and closes the album in style, or the breaks that keep disrupting the melody of the energetic "Lindsay's Song", and even more so the beautiful instrumental coda on which that same song fades out…

Counterbalancing the breeziness - and, why not, the commercial potential - of these songs, there's no shortage of more meditative moments, like "Caleidoscope", a gorgeous chiaroscuro steeped in a refined tremor of strings and liquid guitar chords, and "Identity", which allows itself another incisive instrumental excursion. And while their innate romanticism reaches its peak on "Sea Eyes", it's a real shame that the band, as if anxious to sound original at all costs, stumbles into a title track that tangles itself up pointlessly, taking forever to get going and ultimately going nowhere. Imre and co. seem to realize this, and indeed they promptly bounce back with the sweet melancholy of "White", confirming that when you're making guitar-pop, simplicity is always the best approach; the quartet also takes the opportunity to deliver another splendid crescendo, echoing long-lost shoegaze heroes like Pale Saints. And then there's "July", which stands out as one of the album's most intense and melodic moments, not far removed from the languor of early Radiohead.

All beautiful, blurry songs, making up a work that's perhaps fragile but precious. "Reprint" probably isn't yet the record of a mature band, but it is the spontaneous, sprightly pop-rock album we needed, if only to have a solid alternative to NME's hype. Above all, it's an album that, despite its uncertainties and flaws, still manages to shine with a light all its own - a spring light, pale but full of warmth, that puts you in a good mood.

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01/03/2006