Holy Sons – Fall of Man

For a man who once admitted to taking drugs every day since he was 16, Portland songwriter and drummer Emil Amos is a prolific musician. Claiming to have written over a thousand songs, Amos also plies his trade in both post-rock favourites Grails and doom metallers OM, with his Holy Sons project allowing this languid polymath to stretch out and indulge his love of avant-folk and classic ‘70s balladry.

The ghosts of troubled, cracked and paranoid forefathers like Skip Spence and Dennis Wilson haunt this album’s vaguely sad air but what wins through is the sheer listenability of so many of these songs. I Told You is full of warm Deep Purple-esque organs, while dreamy guitar lines and Amos’ own sweet double-tracked vocals emerge as if from nowhere on Boil It Down. The spooky but skilful production only adds to the impression Amos has a come a long way from his roots in lo-fi home recording. Long may he stay there.