EP Review on Awaiting The Flood

Son of the Sun: Almost Not There

ALBUM REVIEWS, ARTISTS — BY LARRY VANDERPOOL ON JULY 27, 2011 8:37 AM 

White Bluff, Nashville, and Middle Tennessee music aficionados, Son of the Sun will officially release their latest EP Son of the Sun: Almost Not There today (July 26, 2011) on the I Blame Yoko Music label. This album is the follow up to their first full length LP The Happy Loss (2010). The new EP and its collection of six songs see no stylistic departure from Son of the Sun’s formula for producing melodic soft edged rock music. Think well written Lo-Fi, psychedelic, nostalgia rock similar to Oasis, Blur, or The Traveling Wilburys. Despite the nostalgic and familiar qualities of Son of the Sun: Almost Not There their sound never comes off as trite or a mere imitation. In fact, the sound is genuine and the bands artistic integrity remains intact as the album seamlessly combines classic and contemporary sounds and sensibilities.
The EP’s first track “As Far as Lucy” is an up tempo guitar driven tune that rocks and slurs its way into your consciousness with a brazen cockiness that will have listeners hooked from the first notes. The vocal performance on the album’s second track “10,000” has all the swagger and smoothness of a Roy Orbison or Carl Perkins song. Furthermore, the pessimism and darkness of the lyrics are juxtaposed against the up tempo rhythm and confident vocal delivery on the song. “Fruit Jar” is another stand out song that for the most part moves along in ¾ time, until the psychedelic sounding bridge and chorus’s distort the tune ala the Beatles “Sgt. Peppers.” The song almost sounds like Syd Barret attempting to perform a country tune after dropping a large dose of LSD or mescaline.
Zak Ward, Joseph Stocker, Jeremy Franklin, Steve Matthews, and Brandon Delmont collectively known as Son of the Sun have made a superb album that is both classic and contemporary. The combination of British pop with American psychedelic-blues based rock sounds works extremely well for this band. Music listeners of many genres including rock, country, pop, blues, and americana will enjoy this album and should not hesitate to add it to their collections. Expect to see a lot more from Son of the Sun in the years to come as this star has just started to burn and from the sound of their new EP they are ready to shine. For more information on Son of the Sun or to purchase their newest music you can find them at http://www.sonofthesunmusic.com/.