With spooky vocals, fit tight against rumbling and rolling drums, angular guitar and other varied instruments, this was music as slippery and as mean as a cornered rattlesnake. How to pin down? Hell, why bother? Let’s just say it exposed many of this year’s bright new musical things for the charlatans they are. Sons and Daughters however are very much the real deal. Adele, in particular, is a vocalist/guitarist with a manic gleam in her eye, a throat-full of demons and a handful of trebly chops. Second vocalist Scott Paterson is a master of the dark retort and accompanies them with wicked guitar slashings and scrapings. Ailidh Lennon and David Gow keep a tight rein in back, which gives free reign to the psycho-dramatics out front. To be honest I didn’t want hear the lyrics too clearly, as they would have been too disturbing, and sure enough the one I did catch proved me correct; "I’ve cut you out of every photograph, within an inch of your life". So thank the stars for Night and Day’s foggy vocal mix. But, this was a great gig by Sons and Daughters, who provided truly cutting edge and murderous entertainment at the very top of contemporary music’s murky old game. |