‘Barefoot On Diamond Road’ is the third album from Dutch singer/songwriter Amber Arcades. A record of engaging maturity, filled with slow motion builds and epic lifts that elevate it to dizzying heights.
Immersed in an all-consuming wall of sound, ‘Barefoot On Diamond Road’ is like My Bloody Valentine gone acoustic, it shouldn’t work but it does; it’s a juxtaposition of textures, from skittery, uneasy dancefloor beats to symphonic kosmische, a baroque pop tapestry side-stitched with cellos and harps with a plaintive steel guitar echoing in the distance.
Conceived remotely with original sparring partner Ben Greenberg (Danny Elfman, Depeche, Ryley Walker) in New York and Annelotte in Amsterdam. It’s a coming of age set in a new town with a new positivity underpinning her, as ever, beautifully crafted and highly personal observations on life, love and how it all should or could work.
“This record really reveals parts of me and my relationship with being a musician and making music. It’s like a reckoning, more in the moment, realizing how important it is to do things for the right reasons and how that can change your process into one that embraces what exists, including yourself.”
Amber Arcades’ new album ‘Barefoot On Diamond Road’ marks a new phase for a highly respected musician.
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: Amber Arcades' third album sees Annelotte de Graaf eschewing to some degree the woozy acoustic balladry of the brilliant 'European Heartbreak' for a much more electronic influenced sound, with fractured pads and grand percussion working their way underneath De Graaf's hypnotic vocals. It's a new direction, but couldn't be any more appropriate a development for a musician of her calibre.
TRACK LISTING
Side A
A1 Diamond Road
A2 Odd To Even
A3 Contain
A4 Water Stains
A5 Life Is Coming Home
Side B
B1 Through
B2 True Love
B3 Just Like Me
B4 I'm Not There
B5 You Could Never Let Me Down
