Review: Fatherson – First Born

Next single by Kilmarnock’s own Fatherson was released today. There has been some excitement about the track since the band announced when it was going to be released late last year, and more after they released the video for the single last month.

The a-side First Born starts with Ross singing and playing a staccato rhythm joined quickly by the bass and drums, which build up to the initial chorus. Distorted guitars then join the mix to repeat the chorus followed swiftly by a quieter return to the verse. The next build up to the chorus leads to an epic break down that mixes harmonics and drop-tuned chords in the way that Fatherson have mastered that its becoming a trademark part of their sound. Towards the end of the track there is some excellent falsetto vocals on the final line. Vocally, the lyrics cover that of trying to fit in and being different.

B-side Kiteers is a slower tempo number that starts off steadily with a climbing chord structure, leading to an anthemic chorus yet again displaying Ross’ flavour for falsetto vocals. Going back into the verse again it returns to the initial sequence leading to the second chorus and beakdown. The break down here (controversially) reminded me of Snow Patrol in this case, going from the solo guitar to the descending chord sequence, with a pounding rhythm to it.

Both tracks display the bands ability to pen good songs that cover all the elements of the band’s sound and abilities. Bruce Rintoul’s production sounds excellent too. It’s always great to see someone’s work with an act progress with them, in this case from the bands Where The Water Meets The Land EP (released first when they were still Energy!) to now you can even see how he has progressed as a producer.

You can get First Born on iTunes now. Also if you around the Buchanan Street Apple store around 5.30pm today you can catch the band for free!

Single Review: Bury You – Where We Lay Our Heads

This is a new one for me but here we go! The upcoming single by Glasgow folk/rock act Where We Lay Our Heads will be released digitally on the 19th March. The band who describe themselves as “Rock band pretending to be a folk band, a folk band with distortion pedals,” are doing a launch for it on the 21st at Captains Rest (expect a review if I make it along), and a small tour.

The track itself starts off with some picked electric guitar, violin and singing from singer Wull in an almost spoken way with a local dialect. They are then joined by the bass and drums playing a staccato rhythm to them go back into a calmer verse. The track builds on this format throughout to reach a peak at that end with Wull singing the chorus on his own. Produced by Paul Gallagher who has recently recorded Three Blind Wolves, John Knox Sex Club and Kid Canaveral it has that sort of Scottish folky sound to it, definitely a good choice by the band of who to work with. So in short a good song well produced song by the band who are indeed worth checking out.

You can catch Where We Lay Our Heads at the following dates:

21st March – Glasgow – Captains Rest(single launch) w/LETTERS & Cafe Disco
22nd March – Inverness – Hootenanny’s w/LETTERS
23rd March – Thurso – Newmarket Bar w/LETTERS
24th March – Skye – Saucy Mary’s w/LETTERS
25th March – Edinburgh – Wee Red Bar w/LETTERS

Also on the 19th the song will available from Bandcamp, you can find Where We Lay Our Heads on Facebook.