Amber - Noah

It's nice to see that Nottingham has been a place of new music excellence in recent months. This blog recently featured the rather decent Kagoule, and fans of music from Northern Ireland will be aware that local  boys A Plastic Rose recently relocated there as a base of their national domination. But one of the bands from the city that have started to really catch people's attention are the quintet Amber. Their cover of "Hide & Seek" got people talking at the end of last year, but now they're lining up their debut E.P, and the lead single from that, "Noah", is a joy to behold.

On first listen, it might be apt to compare their sound to that of Mumford & Sons, given their similar rhythms and lyrical nods to Biblical characters. However, what differentiates Amber, aside from the notable lack of banjo twiddling, is a much heavier rock sound, with the band not afraid to press the distortion button on their amplifiers. Plus, I very much doubt Mumford would quote The Shawshank Redemption. It's a strong introductory track for Amber, one which should see them win fans, especially now that another band with a similar sound, Kodaline, look set to go global.