SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: AMBER ARCADES – CANNONBALL

Amber Arcades
Cannonball
Heavenly Recordings

Amber Arcade’s Cannonball EP is exactly what you would want out of a five track playlist from the sweet voice behind Fading Lines. Front-woman Annelotte de Graaf opens with a buoyant transformation of Nick Drake’s “Which Will”, originally heard on his 1972 album Pink Moon. “It Changes”, the second track, stays with the happy and upbeat tempo, but we see this transform into an 80’s-esque sound on ” Can’t Say That We Tried” Blame it on the retro synth opening. “Wouldn’t Even Know” takes us back to the pleasant easy listening, with Bill Ryder-Jones assisting on vocals for a full sounding duet. The final and title track, “Cannonball”, brings the EP full circle with its toned down sound and simple melody. de Graaf sings sincerely over the guitar, sending us into an almost dream-like state.

The entire EP was recorded over two days while touring in New York City, the same place that Dutch-born de Graaf self-recorded her first EP back in 2013. When speaking on Cannonball as a whole, de Graaf stated that she almost waited for more tracks to pull it all together. “I’ve thought about postponing their release and waiting till I have more songs to make it into a full record, but I actually feel like they fit together wonderfully as an EP and am glad they get to be out there in this form.”

Like Amber Arcade’s first full album, Fading Lines, Cannonball is the picture of indie pop. The ethereal voice of de Graaf over uncomplicated instrumental goes on for a total of eighteen minutes. Just as the Amber Arcades EP brought on the full-length Fading Lines, here’s to hoping that Cannonball is able to quickly do the same.

Artist Links