TRACK REVIEW: Amp Live 'Run Back'

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Amp Live: An immensely talented producer, one half of the pioneering hip-hop duo Zion I and a leading representative for musical innovation. On August 4th Amp Live releases his much anticipated solo UK debut album, incidentally his first via the L.A. based label, Plug Research Records. Headphone Concerto promises a musical journey founded upon Amp’s youth: Drumming in a Black Baptist Church, listening to New Wave with Texan skaters and the college jam sessions which formed his identity as a musician.

Ahead of the album’s release, Amp has dropped the single ‘Run Back’, featuring his music collective Saint Tiimbre. Saint Tiimbre is comprised of Amp Live, Julia Lewis, and Natasha Adorlee. Julia Lewis is a self-proclaimed producer of “emotive, danceable music that continues to evolve with time”, while Natasha Adorlee is the vocalist of the group, as well as a professionally-trained dancer.

The track opens with the words “J’ai besoin de vous”, French for “I need you”. The words are apt not only in that they embody the longing feeling of the song, but also because of the links between France and electronic music. This is a song about love, and yet you’d barely notice it as the melodic harmony of synth and cello sweep through your soul. I close my eyes and I imagine a sunny day, I could be lying in a field somewhere in Provence and at the same time I could be kicking it on the beach in California. This is a song which transports your mind to wherever it longs to be.