Sam Prekop and John McEntire have been working together for about as long as I can remember, from the still extant brilliance of the Sea & Cake to their collaborations on one another's solo endeavors – McEntire's film score for Reach the Rock is a standout, as well as Prekop's sundry solo releases.
Never have the two designed to make an album with just their names as artists, though, but when Prekop and McEntire toured together, showcasing their no-longer-secret passion for synths and danceable beats, Sons Of was a logical development. Given McEntire's engineering prowess and pathbreaking work in Tortoise, and Prekop's recent slew of solo synthesizer work – sans the singer's incredibly dulcet voice – it is no surprise how composed Sons Of actually turns out to be. If you're a fan of the Sea & Cake and/or Tortoise (and shame if you're not!), you know that nothing is left to chance. Improvising is not the same as seeing what works and calling it a day. At least, not if you care about the results as well as the process.
Each of the four long tracks is complete in its own way – nothing is missing, and nothing drags – which speaks to Prekop and McEntire's gift as experienced songwriters. The overall mood is ebullient, surprising, and hard to resist tapping your foot to, or getting all sweaty dancing (I'm more of the former type, for better or worse). "A Yellow Robe" is the star of the show, which builds with increasing tension from granular sweeps to house beats (the two starting playing together in Chicago and the ghost of Derrick Carter is not far). The percussive instruments employed are like a self-ethnology of McEntire's musical journey, as curious as it is curated. The layers of written or improvised sections is stunning, but because there is a playful, pop sensibility that still beats in these artists' hearts, nothing ever feels cumbersome or overwrought, a special talent if ever there was one. The temperament of Sons Of is airy and alluring, which, as soon as you start connecting patches and pedals, can quickly go kaput.
If you are a fan of either of these artists, or their many projects, I can't possibly imagine that there is anything that won't win you over here. For complete novices, it won't matter what the two former Chicago stalwarts have done prior to this release, because you can't stop listening and enjoying it, as effortless as it is intelligent (I couldn’t stop smiling). Good electronic music need not be ponderous, even if you have the chops to prove you're on the safe side of the amateur curtain. Very highly recommended!.
