As a rule, you don’t see AC/DC writing songs called Brand New Paradigm, and as that title suggests, the three founding members of Sons Of Bill are college graduates, the offspring of their musician father, acknowledged in their name.
Keyboard player Abe Wilson and his younger brothers Sam (guitars) and James (vocals) have slowly gathered fans and critical respect in the US over the past decade and now have their sights set on our humble continent. The summery, REM-esque folk-pop of Bad Dancer might help them along, as could Fishing Song, a softly spellbinding acoustic reverie.
The addition of Leah Blevins’s harmonies on Land Of Canaan is similarly beguiling, backed with delicately picked guitar and sun-dappled shards of pedal steel. And there’s a healthy dose of Stipe-style lyrical intrigue on Higher Than Mine, wherein Abe Wilson broods, ‘Her smiling eyes remind me of a dirty magazine, and in between is what drives me up the wall.’
A couple more irresistibly ear-grabbing tunes would surely make success a formality, but this should still tempt many a folk-friendly palate./o:p
