Edinburgh trio, The Son(s), like to remain allusive, hidden behind a mysterious veil of secrecy. Far be it than, for me to shatter the illusion of this psychedelic troupe, and to reveal any mundane exposures that don’t fit with their perceived faceless stance.
Following on from their Zombies-esque drowning in reverb criterion single, ‘Radar’, the pastoral Caledonian psych-nauts self-titled debut LP sets them up as close relatives to The Super Furry Animals. Such is the allure of the Welsh wizards brand of sunshine-psych, that you could be forgiven for assuming this was some clever front for the groups Gruff Rhys. Cinematic ambitions, and a certain broody melancholy however, steer the Scot’s away from becoming too much of a SFA carbon copy. Their own narrative driven and lushly congruous acid-folklore lavished outpourings, pitch this as a warm, but electric kool-aid languishing pop album.
An omnivorous hunger to replicate and play around with their many influences, from beyond the Calico Wall, see’s the Son(s) traverse the likes of Simian and The Pretty Things on the wandering, almost shapeless Sonny You’ll Never Get That Ride; mix up 90s post Brit-pop bands Octopus and The Beta Band for the brain fudge of, You Belong To No One, and bow in worship at the alter of The Beach Boys for the bitter recount of Sold Down The River.
From the Tropicana wry menace of Dogs, Boys & Men, to The Everly Brothers do primal screaming with Timothy Leary, and ocean metaphor heavy paean of There Is A Hole In The Middle Of The Sea, an attempt is made to tell a variety of surrealistic tinged stories, and to introduce us to a motley cast of characters that inhabit windswept landscapes, haunted twisting byways and moon gazing hill tops.
Amongst the sonic cosmic debris and harmonious lapping washes of smothered effects, you’ll find some quite challenging emotive and tender melodic stirring tunes – though these often become masked by over-exuberant use of cacophonous reverb and echo.
With plenty of pulchritude and inventive ideas on display, The Son(s) proves to be a pleasantly hazy and lysergic listening experience.
[Rating: 3.5]
