"Traditional in its execution, almost religious in its desire to follow the rules, but a cracking, well-recorded tune nevertheless. It's one we've been listening to all month.
We think it's the string sound that makes the difference here. While it might have been tempting to reach for a big pad sound the more live-sounding quartet of strings sounds so much more enticing and live.
Elsewhere the expert way in which each instrument is given a space and a treatment and then placed in the stereo field shows that some pros have been at work here. The subtle double-tracking of the vocal is a time-honoured trick that suits the flow of this track perfectly. We're reminded of the Flaming Lips - and that's a massive compliment. And we love a track that pulls no punches and drops into the vocal at just three seconds in! Bravo!
Above all it's the way that technology has been used to capture and create such a live and warm sound that impressed us. Good work."
(Demo review, "Storms" June 2008)
Dead Amps: Press
Reloader employs a lot of imagery-inducing sounds, with dynamics reminiscent of the early records of The Shamen or 808 State. And Payne’s smooth, almost sedated vocals remind one of The Stone Roses or Jesus and Mary Chain. So the Dead Amps’ music resonates with the kid in me too young for the 80s new wave and too old for the stuff that passes on the radio “these days.” Reloader is not the sort of album to have “hit singles” with other songs grasping at coattails, but actually functions as an album (a bit of a lost artform in the age of digital downloads). The trip offers a little something for the ambient groovers, the technoheads, and the indie rockers. But if I had to pick one, the track Storms seems to capture the sentiment of all of these. Electronic music and rock have long been debating with one another over who’s more sentimental and who’s more macho, each occasionally switching sides. Dead Amps doesn’t bother with this debate. It’s just musicians doing good music.
Jon Hershfield
Isgoodmusic.com