When you talk about Sons of an Illustrious Father, you have to speak of the band in terms of eras. Their initial recordings were folky, even vaguely alt-country, as if exhumed, dusted off, and brought down from the mountain. The vocals on these songs are beautifully breathy and cigarette stretched, the drums play a lithe shuffle, and are accompanied by banjos and the echo of an electric guitar. The music the band produces in its current iteration retains many of these facets, but has also noticeably evolved. Their latest two singles, “Very Few Dancers" and "Strange Home,” carry influences as disparate as folk, psychedelic rock, and contemporary hip-hop, and rely heavily on electric instrumentation. Still present though is that singular voice, which hopefully the band never outgrows.
Read Emilio Herce’s interview with Sons of Illustrious Father
See the band live at The Deli’s CMJ Roots Stages at Rockwood on 10.22.