Amersham’s “Happy Face” smiles upon “Cute as a Button”

AMERSHAM’S “HAPPY FACE” SMILES UPON “CUTE AS A BUTTON”

Get the tracks here:
Amersham – Happy Face: HERE
Amersham – Cute as a Button: HERE

2020 has been an industrious and creatively productive period for a band last recorded and was seen performing live together a full two decades ago. Hail the long-overdue and highly anticipated return of the much-loved Amersham!

As to not disappoint and very quickly make up for lost time, the firing-on-all-cylinders four-piece is celebrating the release of two brand new songs, “Happy Face” and “Cute as a Button”.

As a proud new signing to Gallo Record Company, Amersham, made up of Adam Lomas, Sasha Sonnbichler, Tim Trotter, and Nathan Waywell, now a globally scattered collective, reconnected and reignited a musical flame that never truly went out.

Rekindled and reunited, the band has already written and recorded an ever-growing new body of work, of which “Happy Face” and “Cute as a Button” are the first two hits fired from their burgeoning arsenal.

To longstanding and fiercely loyal fans, “Happy Face” was first shared on the band’s multiple social feeds in late June 2020, to tumultuous applause of thankful appreciation for their delivery of message-imbedded, driving beats, delicious guitar and titillating trademark frivolity. The accompanying video stands as an equal delight.

What soon followed was Amersham’s signing to Gallo Record Company and with it, the commitment to deliver more choice cuts from a group who, since officially reforming, has fostered an oasis of exquisite storytelling, all of which hits home in real-life emotion and commentary.

“Happy Face” is filled with unapologetically in-your-face confidence wrapped up in titivating aural bliss that opens with a trumpet blast, shadowed by a wall of guitar distortion and thundering drumbeats. What ensues there is a vocal tsunami that pole-vaults inside your aural cavity, screaming repeat plays and demanding your full and undivided attention.

“Cute as a Button”, when set alongside “Happy Face”, is a very different beast, but an equally enticing invitation to trawl through lead singer, Adam Lomas’ head. Dark, punctuated with light, “Cute as a Button” pulls no punches in lyrically confronting man’s fundamental bassline flaws.

The emotional rollercoaster ride is topped by an arrangement that grew out of a stripped-bare acoustic idea, into an impressive marriage of what Nathan calls, “finding a sweet spot for the drums, bassline and percussion, Sasha piano fills, along with a cameo return of original Amersham member Marc Bentel’s Hammond organ infusion.” Ultimately, “Cute as a Button” shows yet another side to the multifaceted Amersham personality.

The 1990s were punctuated with possibility and filled with talented young upstarts keen to make their musical mark. Amersham was one such collective. Fast-forward 25 years and the band’s back to pick up and run with what they started the day they unleashed their stellar debut single “Monkey” back in 1995.

True to form, Amersham may have untimely disbanded in 1999, but their unmatchable chemistry, showmanship and sense of humour have remained firmly intact. Now back in the room, just one spin of “Happy Face” and “Cute as a Button” catapults loyal followers and newbies onto a sonic playground filled with delicious quirk, resolve and smartly crafted storytelling.

Unfinished business and a connection that time could never diminish, Amersham’s earlier catalogue, comprising two EPs (Pickled, Upside Downside), two albums (Wearing Thin, 12 Songs) and a heaving greatest hits package (Revolving Doors), all remain a fitting foundation and window into their wonderful world of energetic originality.

“Happy Face” refuses to be ignored, nor should it be, if only because it’s a powerful, brand-new rollicking statement. Conversely, “Cute as a Button” will trigger conscience, unsettle and delight, all at the same time. More disarming blissful music Amersham defy you to find.