Amber Run

The British group Amber Run specializes in rich, film-like alternative pop characterized by an introspective and atmospheric mood. One year after assembling, the act secured a contract with RCA, and several early EPs set the stage for the sweeping arrival of their first full-length effort, 5AM, in 2015. That release achieved modest placement on the British albums survey; the follow-up, For a Moment, I Was Lost, posted comparable results two years later, after which the musicians kept pushing boundaries through an additional EP and a run of standalone tracks.

Vocalist and guitarist Joe Keogh, guitarist Will Jones, and bassist Tom Sperring had been classmates at grammar school before encountering keyboardist Henry Wyeth and drummer Felix Archer at the University of Nottingham, the setting in which the five musicians formed Amber Run in 2012. Their first significant opportunity came with a slot on the BBC Introducing Stage at the Reading Festival, and by late 2013 they had finalized an agreement with RCA Records. The new partnership yielded the debut EP Noah in the first months of 2014. Spark and Pilot appeared shortly afterward, leading to the announcement that Amber Run had finished recording 5AM with producer Mike Crossey (Arctic Monkeys, Keane). Powered by tracks such as “I Found” and “Just My Soul Responding,” the album entered the U.K. charts at number 36 when it surfaced in 2015.

The subsequent singles “Haze” and “Stranger” appeared the next year, previewing For a Moment, I Was Lost, which reached listeners in early 2017. Further broadening their palette, the band issued the 2018 EP The Assembly, which included the expansive, largely choral pieces “The Weight” and “Amen.” Their year concluded with the grittier, guitar-led single “Carousel.” In 2019 the reflective number “Affection” returned the group to a more symphonic approach.