King's Daughters & Sons - If Then Not When

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4...according to our Clinton on Thu 17 Nov, 2011.

Chemikal Underground seem to have a knack for picking up artists you've never heard of and doing the decent thing by unleashing their music on an unsuspecting public. But these lot have previous, this contains members of Rachel's, Shipping News, The For Carnation and Shannon Wrights band, basically the cream of Louisville. And gosh does it sound like it on the opening track 'Sleeping Colony' starting off a little like Bill Callaghan/Smog, it soon erupts into the type of post rock dynamics you may expect from people who have been drinking the same water as Slint. 'Arc of the Absentees' showcases the type of folk rock long made famous by Sandy Denny/Fortheringay/Fairport Convention recently re-badged by the likes of Trembling Bells, Men an Tol and The Accidental. 'Dead Letter Office' certainly has the Neil Young about it, the vocals recalling MC Taylor (Court and Spark/Hiss Golden Messenger) yet its a little too rootsy recalling those late unlamented Magnolia Electric Co albums where Molina decided it would better to be Bob Seger than Will Oldham. So its a hybrid of a quite traditional sound fed through more ambitious yet exquisite playing, distinctly pleasant yet lacking a certain edge to live up to past works.

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•   Debut album from band featuring various Touch & Go alumni.

•   Hailing from Louisville KY, King’s Daughters & Sons feature members of Rachel’s, Shipping News, The For Carnation and Shannon Wright.

•   Three years in the making ‘If Then Not When’ was recorded by Kevin Ratterman (California Guitar Trio, My Morning Jacket, Wax Fang) and mastered by Bob Weston (Shellac).

•   King’s Daughters & Sons are informed by, though not beholden to, the history of its respective members: haunting, spare and at times explosively unsettling, they have been described as part William Faulkner, part Led Zeppelin.

•   The music on the album deals mostly with ghost stories, murder ballads and grimoires: dark narratives that recall Nick Cave and the work of Louisville luminaries Slint.

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