Sons And Daughters - This Gift

  by Sarah Maybank

published: 28 / 1 / 2008

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Review

Time to crack open the dressing up box again, people. Franz Ferdinand and Long Blondes might be too busy updating their wardrobes to wave a guitar at us but, like an indie/couture tag team, Sons and Daughters have jumped in to fill the void, stiletto heels first.New year, new album, new image. Out goes the "charity shop chic" look. In comes the goth Shangri-Las. Glammed up and hungry for your love, Sons Daughters version 2.0 are, in spirit at least, working a Grammy award red carpet, some time around 1966. At recent gigs Ailidh Lennon glistened in a spangled prom gown, while Adele Bethel rocked a sequin-encrusted, way-beyond-mini dress, teamed with Cleopatra eyes and a sleek, "Toni & Guy do emergency surgery on Amy Winehouse" bouffant. It’s not just the duds that are giving a nod to The Leader Of The Pack. During the two and a half years since 2005’s intense, angular The Repulsion Box, Sons and Dasughters have clearly been working themselves up into a retro frenzy in the lava-lamped environs of their communal Glasgow lair (you thought they all lived separately in chic, inner city apartments? Are you insane?). This album is all about showing their souls – literally.‘Chains’ is pure punk rock doo-wop, ‘Rebel With The Ghost’ nicks the na-na-nas from Shocking Blues cult 60s hit ‘Send Me A Postcard’ and ‘Darling’ works a soulful falsetto vocal that’d have a Jackie Wilson opening his arms in welcome, then toughs it up with chopping, fuzzed-up guitar. Sons and Daughters are canny enough to court the factions still hopelessly devoted to the Edgar Allan Poe darkness of their earlier days, though, and 'Gilt Complex' and 'Hole In My Head' jitter with that lovable pent-up rage of old.Live, the band have toughened up and have recently taken to mashing up a killer version of ‘Johnny Cash’ with The Stooges’ 'I Wanna Be Your Dog’. Which makes it patently clear Ferdinand Blondes have a smackdown on their hands when they return. We’ve already booked our seats and bought our popcorn. You?

Track Listing:-

1 Gilt Complex
2 Split Lips
3 The Nest
4 Rebel With The Ghost
5 Chains
6 This Gift
7 Darling
8 Flags
9 Iodine
10 The Bell
11 House In My Head
12 Goodbye Service

Label Links:-

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