Amps for Christ
The People at Large

Southern California-based luthier Henry Barnes has been performing as Amps for Christ since leaving Man Is the Bastard in 1996. Keeping elements of MITB's apocalyptic imagery, AFC has been an ongoing experiment in acoustic instrumentation and homemade electronics in the spirit of Barnes' vision of "nonjudgmental" Christianity. A cross between a street preacher and Gandalf the Gray in person, but accompanied by Tara Tavi on vocals, AFC bounces between acoustic folk ballads and spoken-word denunciations of the Bush empire set to shards of feedback, the group is taking a more melodic, hopeful path than on its more electronics heavy records like 1997's Thorny Path, though noise impresario John Wiese makes an appearance here, and the sitar and homemade stringed instruments are sometimes paired with twittering amp-squawks resembling birdcalls, as on "Freddie the Mockingbird." "AFC Tower Song" takes on American consumerism and environmental destruction while referencing 9/11, sounding more like a '60s protest song than one for the '00s. In the weird new folk hierarchy, there should be space for Barnes, who is closer to '60s icons like Pearls Before Swine and the legacy of ESP Disc than many newcomers can claim.

Review by George Chen
12.12.04