King's Daughters & Sons – If Then Not When

Chemikal Underground welcome members of Shipping News, Rachel’s, The For Carnation, and Shannon Wright in the form of new band King’s Daughters & Sons, releasing their debut album If Then Not When. The record is an eclectic mesh that draws on the sound of the various members’ former projects and mixes it all together into something quite special.

If Then Not When varies between letting guitar driven immediacy akin to that of My Morning Jacket take hold, and subsiding under the soothing sweetness of Rachel Grimes’ vocals. The shuffling chords and harmonies of tracks like Act of the Absentees seem impossibly removed from the bluesy rock of Dead Letter Office, but when the two converge in songs such as The Anniversary it would be difficult not to compare them to Chemikal founders The Delgados. An incredibly intriguing record that satisfies and rewards repeat listens. It will be interesting to see what comes next from the union of these disparate bands.