Sons and Daughters

I have known about Scotland's Sons and Daughters for awhile and have always enjoyed their tunes. In fact, "Dance Me In" has been an All England Club staple for a long time. But as much as I enjoyed their past output, I have never really been moved to actually make an effort to hype them to friends and family until now.

"What's the difference now?" you may ask. Well, in a phrase, S&Ds got teeth. The dark brooding country-tinged murder ballads of their old records have now been injected with some punch and some fury. Much like past releases, their latest, This Gift, still recalls the likes of Leonard Cohen and Nick Cave, but this time out they have a dash of rockabilly and swagger that was absent before. Maybe its a dash of girl power in the writing or just upping the amps to eleven, but this is not the brooding Sons and Daughters of old. And it's not just in the lyricism. While the dark lyrics also bleed into more angry and fervent territory, the real change here is the sonic power they generate, especially from the guitar licks. Much like I mentioned in the 2 Lone Swordsmen and Arctic Monkeys posts, looks like we might be seeing a resurgence in the UK of reverb and fuzzbox rock riffs again.

For those playing at home... This Gift gets an 8, the tracks below gets a 9.5 and a 9, respectively, and their live show gets a 10. Go buy this record NOW. You will thank me later.

Plus they are pals with Franz Ferdinand boys, so that's a pretty solid seal of approval.


Sons and Daughters- House In My Head
Sons and Daughters- Gilt Complex