Big Stir Records is very proud to announce the April 22 release of the new and
self-titled album from Stourbridge, England’s AMOEBA TEEN on CD and digital.
The followup to their acclaimed 2019 BSR release Medium Wave, Amoeba Teen
features ten fresh new tracks including the single “New Material World” and
the early-2022 teaser “January”, each bristling with energy and discovery as the
band charts new territory with all their keen Britpop instincts on full display. It’s
up for pre-order at www.bigstirrecords.com and everywhere music is sold, and
will be streaming worldwide on the street date.
The band – singer/guitarists MARK BRITTON and MIKE TURNER, drummer CARL
BAYLISS and bassist SIMON MUTTITT – provide some insight into what to
expect on AMOEBA TEEN: “This album is the frst one where we’ve recorded
live as a four-piece, capturing the energy of the band performance Amoeba
Teen are famed for.” The album was produced by Sean Lloyd – whom the band
cite as instrumental in developing the Amoeba Teen sound into new sonic
territories – at Claptrap Studios in Stourbridge, and mastered by George
Shilling (Teenage Fanclub, Primal Scream).
“It was a deliberately self-titled album because it was a real band efort to
capture the live performance and shape the subsequent arrangements and
vocal harmonies,” the band explains. “It has been a labour of love over two
disrupted years – trying to rehearse the songs and then being forced to wait
due to COVID lockdowns.”
The intentional collision of the live sound and the diversity of the new material
is a thrilling masterstroke, lending both immediacy and cohesion to the
exploration of new textures. There’s a strong thread of gleeful glam rock
running through the album, from the lead track “Mainstream” (which counts
among its memorable couplets “She likes it kinda kooky in the back of her
Suzuki”) to the driving “Barlight Crawl”. It’s even evident on the swaggering
instrumental passage that breaks up the melancholy of “Putting The Kids
Through College,” and it rears up again in the closing “King Of The Cut” — a
stomping tune tinged by the tones of Crazy Horse and Teenage Fanclub at their
heaviest.
Elsewhere, Amoeba Teen’s always-deft way with power pop hooks manifests
itself in the single “New Material World” – a new-wave infected hit-in-waiting
that equally evokes The Cars and The Replacements – and “Just Not That Into
You” which straddles the line between the sounds of Squeeze and Fountains Of
Wayne at tops of their respective games. There’s a palpable joy in the way the
band dive into fresh idioms while sounding exactly like themselves: the rootsy
twang of “January”, the single that heralded the forthcoming album earlier this
year, is as natural as it is new. Likewise the near-’50s balladry of “A Good
Reason Why” and the Zombies-like shufe “Melody Told You” ft Amoeba Teen
like a second skin. Lead vocal duties are traded between Britton and Turner,
both displaying melodic gifts and wry but touching wit that bring to mind the
likes of Split Enz (on the jangly “Monica Wake Up”), Blur, Jellyfsh and even The
Beach Boys in the sophisticated harmony passages adorning tunes across the
record’s span.
“The album touches on the perennial classic pop themes of love and loss,
exacerbated by the breakdown of Mark Britton’s marriage. Additionally one of
the tracks (that shall remain nameless) was written using artifcial intelligence –
an experiment that was too intriguing not to try once. But ultimately we
wanted to write a kick-ass album that people could turn their car stereos up
and enjoy during those frst hints of summer. That is why bass player, Simon
Muttitt’s painted canvas cover uses bright splashes of colour to capture the fun
mood of the festival season we all hope to enjoy together again soon.”
Sonically, melodically, lyrically, and thematically, Amoeba Teen’s self-titled
album raises the band’s bar and is intended to be worth the wait fans have had
to endure. The wait ends in April, and the record they’ve crafted will delight
devotees and those newly discovering the band alike.
BIG STIR RECORDS
2140 N. Hollywood Way #6607, Burbank CA 91505
bigstrrecords@gmail.com – rexbroome@gmail.com
www.bigstrrecords.com