The immediate retro vibe transports you through space and time into the canyons, mountains, streams and the windmills of your mind.
One of the wonderful, and indeed miraculous, attributes of this mysterious thing called music is its ability to transport the listener through time and space. This album performs an aural curveball and offers a musical sleight of hand, transporting you through the wormhole, depositing you in a far-away place in a manner any self-respecting Time Lord would be proud of. On first listening, it seemed entirely incongruous that the review copy of this album should arrive as an MP3, surely a format not even thought of when this record was made. However, this is, in fact, a brand-new record, and it has been created by a young and highly talented artist.
Alex Amen, at 26 years old, appears like a fresh-faced 1970s James Taylor. He is described by his record label ATO as “an artist untethered from time and place”. Growing up on the Gulf Coast of Texas, he moved to California to attend film school, before dropping out to join a commune. He then spent three and a half years on Vashon, an island in Washington State’s Puget Sound, living an outdoorsy, back-to-nature lifestyle that weighs heavily in his music. As he absorbed his environment and honed his musical skills, he released his first batch of solo recordings, The Zorthian Tapes, in 2024. He now lives between Texas, California and New York, and Sun Of Amen is his first full-length album.
Diamonds, the first track, is described as being “a wistful reflection on life and love gained and lost during his time on the West Coast”. Amen’s rich, deep, reassuring voice takes you back to the 1970’s, Fred Neil’s Everybody’s Talkin’, and the initial optimism of the Midnight Cowboy, catapulting you nostalgically into an illusive time and place. Cabin by The Sea brings John Denver very much into mind. Amen’s parents’ road trip tradition of playing John Denver’s greatest hits clearly had a lasting impact. Some deft guitar work and pedal steel playing with a non-lexical vocable (look it up) near the end all add to the reverie expressed in the song. The upbeat country vibe continues with Please Don’t Tell Me You Love Me and the somewhat cheeky Peaches. Some subtle and perfectly executed instrumentation is apparent throughout the record, and clearly a great deal of attention was paid to achieving a very specific feel. Her Spirit Wanders is, according to the PR, “an awestruck ode to a group of fiercely driven female hikers and climbers he encountered during many summers spent in Yosemite National Park“, an image which for some reason is staying with me. Then just as we thought we had the album’s measure, Memories of You signals a change in tack. Some fine piano work and orchestration reminiscent of the pathos of Desperado is accompanied by a melody echoing Billy Joel and Paul Simon. A powerful and highly evocative track which shows the wide scope that Amen offers.
Then we’re back on more familiar territory with the West Coast and the Sunshine. California Blues, albeit a different version, first appeared on The Zorthian Tapes EP. “I wrote that song before I even knew what California really was”, Amen tells American Songwriter, explaining that he wrote it when he was only 14 years old. The mellow Changes follows, Amen showing his disregard for modern convention by adding a meandering floaty flute, playing airily in the background, an embellishment I thought had been rightly outlawed by the MOR police in the late 70s, yet this adds an enchanting, ethereal touch at the end. There is a beautiful innocence and naivety about April, and again, like the previous track, it adds a retro embellishment, this time a female vocal response, which is certainly not something regularly heard in more recent times. If it was revealed that the last track was a lost Beatles cut, no one would be surprised. Lonely People brings back the piano, a heavily reverbed mid-70s Lennon vocal, some sublime McCartney ‘something-esque’ bass and a topping of Harrison/Clapton Abbey Road guitar work. This is a beautiful track, Amen’s vocal quality giving this depth and feeling comparable anywhere.
Produced by Amen and engineered by Jonny Bell (Cage the Elephant, Chicano Batman), Sun of Amen was recorded at the legendary Valentine Recording Studios in L.A mostly using equipment considerably older than Amen himself. This is part of the analogue feel and ethos of the album. Like many good records, this is a grower. Once you sink into the vibe, become entranced and hypnotised by Amen’s silky tones, you can picture the Southern California sunshine and allow yourself to be carried away. That Amen has actually recorded two albums’ worth of this engaging material and plans an autumn release of a follow-up record is certainly something to look forward to.
It’s not overstating things to say that Amen is a bit of an enigma. His unashamed retro vibe is so out there you almost feel that he is unaware that he is channelling the past – it’s just who he is. Yet it’s clear that Amen brings more to the party than just nostalgia. He makes it cool to listen to those Denver- esque tracks you would never admit to liking. Just watch the video that goes with Diamonds; it’s homemade, shows the free outdoor life, and it shows a bunch of young cool dudes having a great time. The music transports you, time-machine-like, albeit perhaps through rose-tinted glasses, to a simpler non-digital, non-social-media time, not a smartphone in sight. Yet perhaps most importantly, he offers some instantly likeable tracks which, unless you live next to the sea on the west coast of anywhere, jumping in your 1970s car (Austin Maxi in my case – doh!) and heading even further west seems an obvious and non-negotiable next step.
