Sons And Daughters
Love The Cup

Glasgow, 2001: Adele Betel and Ailidh Lennon, two girls, plan to start a band and do so by bringing in two boys, David Gow and Scott Paterson. This quartet, with various influences (consider that David and Adele have worked with Arab Strap, but there are also inspirations from the likes of Bob Dylan, Pogues, Fleetwood Mac, and Fairport Convention), immediately caught the attention, or rather the ears, of fellow Scots Franz Ferdinand, who have been shamelessly promoting them (even bringing them along as a supporting band), thanks to their project of pure folk contaminated by direct rock and catchy melodies. The female voice is Adele's, the male is Scott's.
Thus the project "Sons And Daughters" is born. The name of the group has no relation to the band's lineup. In fact, there are no familial connections, no brothers or sisters.

Their debut mini-album (7 tracks) "Love The Cup," released in November 2003, was produced in America, by an independent label.
From the very first track, Fight, listeners are faced with pure folk, a very dry, decisive, and continuous bass drum, folk guitars in the background, and continuous alternation between female/male vocals, making this a particularly engaging track. La Lune seems almost like another version of Fight, with a musical and vocal structure that is practically identical (the usual bass drum, the usual male/female vocal alternation...), but with a much harder, drier, and more powerful bass that characterizes the entire track. Johnny Cash is a beautiful and joyful saloon folk-blues, to be listened to while waiting for the waitress to bring the mighty beer and for the villain of the moment to come in and take out half the place... In Awkward Duet we find ourselves with a track whose instrumental part seems stolen from Girls In Hawaii. Elegant guitar arpeggio and delicate folk structure, similar-blues bass line, female vocals that are nothing short of perfect, very sweet vocal melody. These are the characteristics that make this the best track on the album. It's a pity, though, that to listen to the best track, which slightly deviates from the structure of the entire album, you have to wait until the end of the album.
The rest of the work, in fact, is all played and interpreted in the same vein as the first (in La Lune the similarity is truly remarkable), with folk characterized by guitar riffs and subtle solos that grab you from the first listen and mesh pretty well with harmonies formed by vocal parts, mainly consisting of male/female vocal alternation (an alternation that is missing in Broken Bones and Johnny Cash).

The weak point of this mini-debut is perhaps the excessive similarity between the song structures, but after all, one cannot expect too much from a group whose sole intention is to produce good folk-rock without particular pretensions. Listening to Awkward Duet, it is clear that the group's potential is truly remarkable. It's always pleasant to hear bands that stand out, due to their unique sound, from what the current musical landscape offers. An album that is not a masterpiece but remains well-crafted.

Dedicated to lovers of the 70s revival-folk-rock.