Sons of Bill – Oh God Ma’am
Loose – 29 June 2018
The fifth album by the Virginia-born Wilson brothers, Sam, Abe and James, along with bassist Seth Green and drummer Todd Wellons, had something of a difficult gestation, being put together amid and in the wake of a series of personal tragedies that included divorce, addictions and previously undiagnosed mental conditions, on top of which James fell on a glass midway through recordings, severing five tendons and the median nerve in his right hand, losing all feeling in his hand being told he’d probably never play the guitar again.
However, the band has emerged on the other side, bloodied but unbowed, the experiences finding their way into the music in a way that has rendered it deeper, darker and more determined. Case in point is the album’s opening cut, Sweeter, Sadder, Farther Away, a sparsely arranged, hymnal-like slow waltz about unrequited love that ends on a lyrically ambiguous note, tremulously sung by James and underpinned by piano and acoustic guitar.
That said, it’s somewhat atypical of what follows, Firebird 85 taking the tempo up to a more familiar hooks-laden feel with jangling electric guitar and steady drum beat and vocals and harmonies that remind me of Darlingside, indeed both the burbling synth intro to Before the Fall and its overall feel find a kindred spirit in the latter outfit’s latest album, with the bonus of added pedal steel.
The pace remains brisk for Believer/Pretender, a number that, in its echoey vocals and chiming guitar, harks more to Echo & The Bunnymen than the Eagles comparisons of their early material. That 80s reference isn’t fanciful, get to the tumbling chords of Where We Stand and you’ll also hear New Order within the musical DNA, there too on the particular standout Old and Gray, albeit entwined with the circling folk rock guitars of McGuinn and the country-tinged flavours of early Travis.
The other tracks are quieter, slower, more reflective, the languid Floydian cosmic drift of Green To Blue, Easier conjuring a summery haze with James duetting with Molly Parden as, underlining the album’s sense of resoluteness, he sings “when it’s easier/they’ll know we were the vines that held/the walls upright/for all this time.” That same sensibility also informs the dreamily anthemic overcoming the odds standout Good Mourning (They Can’t Break You Now), the album finally closing with the lengthy, lushly arranged, sonically-expansive psych-folk tinged Signal Fade.
At times nakedly exposed, at others complexly layered, introverted yet expansive, it marks a major stride forward in their musical journey, one which, it is hoped will find the travelling companions it so fully deserves.
Sons of Bill will tour the UK and Europe in August:
Sons of Bill European Tour Dates
AUGUST
Mon 13th – The Hope, Brighton (UK)
Tues 14th – Omeara, London (UK)
Weds 15th – Tunnels, Bristol (UK)
Thurs 16th – Brudenell, Leeds (UK)
Fri 17th – Broadcast, Glasgow (UK)
Sat 18th – Soup Kitchen, Manchester (UK)
Sun 19th – Rescue Rooms, Nottingham (UK)
Tues 21 Aug – Blue Shell, Cologne (DE)
Weds 22 Aug – Milia Club, Munich (DE)
Thurs 23 Aug – Musik & Frieden, Berlin (DE)
Fri 24 Aug – Stage Club, Hamburg (DE)
Sat 25 Aug – Once In a Blue Moon Festival, Amsterdam (NL)