The Cincinnati-based band Ampline will be playing at 9 p.m. tonight in Pullman. Keith Klenowski/Courtesy photo

Instrumental-only groups are typically pigeon-holed as being suppliers of movie or television soundtracks or as classical musical groups. Ampline manages to blow these stereotypes out of the water.
The Cincinnati threesome spins off their newest easy-to-listen-to tracks in “Rosary,” their latest full-length album. It was released in 2007 by Shake-It Records and is available in stores and on iTunes.

The songs range in style and time with one song garnering only 44 seconds while another plays on for more than nine minutes. The style is mostly smooth rock that doesn’t deviate too much toward harder or softer forms.
That’s not to say the tracks don’t have flair — they have it in spades. They range from the slower pace of “The Men with Bibles” to the upbeat tracks “Paper Tiger” and “Two Hands.” One song, “Loud Acres,” even has a bit of a bluegrass feel to it.

There are occasional vocal tidbits sprinkled throughout the album, but they almost act as another instrumental part rather than as a conventional vocal one. They echo softly in the tracks before disappearing again, one of the lyrics stating the thought: “we live like echoes combine/just movements repeating/ no pattern is pattern too.”

The only problem with instrumental tracks is they are fun to listen to, but often disappear from the mind once the song is over. It’s hard to hum along to a song that moves in such interesting ways with only three instruments, a challenge that will likely only be accepted by those who are musically inclined.
It is likewise difficult to find a band to compare Ampline to. They do however cite The Ventures, The Famous Flames and The Who as influences to their music.

For the casual fan, Ampline is definitely worth a listen if only for the sake of trying out a new genre of music that takes risks.
For the serious fan, the group has three other full-length albums and two shorter ones. The band is on tour until Sept. 20 and will be making a stop in Pullman at the Moose Lodge tonight.

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