New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Virginia-based band of brothers Sons of Bill have shared a new track, "Easier," from their forthcoming album Oh God Ma'am. The track is currently streaming via Rolling Stone Country who writes "It's a gorgeous ballad - half resigned and half optimistic, with a rainy-day aesthetic that the bandmates partially credit to one of their album's two engineers, rock vet Phil Ek." Oh God Ma'am will be released on June 29th.
"It's a love song, and I'm so glad
Molly Parden agreed to make it a duet with me. Her voice adds a haunting depth to every song she touches," writes singer/guitarist
James Wilson. Reflecting on the song's inspiration, Wilson writes "there's a strange unspoken
malaise with my generation - ironic and sad... but I think it's important to try and sing about love and hope in some genuine way now more than ever. We have to remind each other in some way that it's going to get easier, even if we know in our heart of hearts that that may not be true." Listen: Sons of Bill - "
Easier"
https://soundcloud.com/sonsofbill/04-easier-feat-molly-parden-1/s-qHcuz
"
Easier" follows the group's lead single "Believer / Pretender," an opening salvo that encapsulates the approach the group takes on their latest record - blending their lyrical Americana roots with a polished, driving set of songs punctuated by crystalline guitar riffs and tasteful synth flourishes. "Believer / Pretender" debuted via Brightest Young Things who declared it "...an absolute stunner, a sweeping piece of '80s-tinged guitar rock that recalls the sounds of New Order, The War on Drugs, and R.E.M., while still being unmistakably Sons of Bill."
Oh God Ma'am is the followup to their 2015 album Love and Logic, which Q magazine called "a glorious sour mash of every great Americana trope of the last 50 years-- think Dylan, R.E.M, Wilco, -- Blended with top notes of Husker Du, Big Star, and The Replacements... A family affair welcoming one and all." Recorded both in Seattle with west coast indie legend Phil Ek (Shins, Fleet Foxes) and in Nashville with Sean Sullivan (Sturgill Simpson) and mixed by
Peter Katis (The National, Interpol) Oh God Ma'am moves beyond the galvanic americana-rock comfort zone of previous efforts, for a more elegant and restrained sound-- a darker, and more complexly layered rock record that manages to be the band's most emotionally intimate and sonically expansive.
"Reaching far beyond their Americana roots, Sons of Bill brew up a lush, literate sound with this year's Oh God Ma'am, a wide-ranging album that mixes honesty, hooks and headiness in equal measure." - Rolling Stone
As three sons of a venerated theology and literature professor at the University of Virginia (who also taught his sons how to play guitar and write songs,) Sons of Bill were always keen to represent the american south with a slightly higher brow-- an upright and literary aspect of the southern culture that rarely gets an adequate hearing in pop music. And like so many of the southern writers they grew up reading (James teaches and is currently writing a book on
William Faulkner) The Wilson brothers often pull songs from the darker regions of the human imagination-- slyly and earnestly scratching at their own spiritual scabs with both humor and sincerity, as a way of exploring life's enduring complexities: faith, love, and the weirdness of time. It gives the whole record a unique atmosphere of tragicomedy-- equal parts post-adolescent anxiety and old-soul humility. In search of the proper nomenclature, one critic would simply describe Sons of Bill as "metaphysical American music."
Sons of Bill Tour Dates:
August 2 - Richmond, Virginia - The Broadberry
August 3 - Washington DC - Union Stage
August 4 - Charlottesville, Virginia - The Jefferson Theater
August 13 - Brighton, UK - The Hope & Ruin
August 14 - London, UK - OMEARA
August 15 - Bristol, UK - The Tunnels Bristol
August 16 - Leeds, UK - Brudenell Social Club
August 17- Glasgow, UK - Broadcast
August 18- Manchester, UK - Soup Kitchen
August 19 - Nottingham, UK - Rescue Rooms
August 21 - Cologne, Germany - Blue Shell
August 22 - Munich, Germany - Milla Club
August 23 - Berlin, Germany - Musik & Frieden
August 24 - Hamburg, Germany - Stage Club Hamburg
August 25 - Amsterdam, Netherlands - Once In A Blue Moon Festival
September 11 - Nashville, TN - AmericanaFest 2018
Oh God Ma'am Track List:
1. Sweeter, Sadder, Farther Away
2. Firebird '85
3. Believer / Pretender
4. Easier (featuring
Molly Parden)
5. Where We Stand
6. Good Mourning (They Can't Break You Now)
7. Before the Fall
8. Green To Blue
9. Old And Gray
10. Signal Fade
