“AM has made one of the great pop albums of the year. Crammed with clever hooks, gorgeous melodies and an atmosphere of chiming Sixties melodrama it recalls spaghetti westerns and Brian Wilson in just about equal measure. It’s almost fruitless to pick out individual tracks but “ITs Been So Long” , “Darker Days” and “Leavenworth” will all melt your soul. An Album to fall in love with.” – 5 STARS, UK Sunday Express (Martin Townsend)
A collection of future pop songs that nod to pop, rock, steamy soul, ’60s Bay Area psychedelia and West Coast sunshine melodies, it’s a really great listen that showcases the [belated] arrival of a major US talent.
The lead single, Self Preservation, was an instant IndieLondon single of the week upon hearing it… a swinging, ‘60s pop-infused collection of classic riffs, handclap beats and slinky melodies. AM’s vocals were great (supremely laidback), while the chorus was a perfectly honed little gem that married retro values with one of the really great guitar riffs.
But it’s just one of many highlights on an album that variously can be compared with the likes of The Beach Boys, Beck, My Morning Jacket and Paul McCartney.
Album opener A Complete Unknown lays the foundations perfectly, combining some slinky organ chords with a great future folk acoustic guitar vibe, and some Californian surfin’ guitar licks that The Drums would be proud of.
Better still, though, is the mandolin fed The Other Side, a breezy delight that really sets a chilled out groove of effortless appeal.
The even more blissful psychedelic It’s Been So Long features a delicious mix of boy-girl vocals that’s strangely reassuring (given the lyrics, “it doesn’t matter still”), while Darker Days another seamless blend of soul and R’n’B influences that showcases another side to AM.
Thereafter, Grand Opinion drops another great chorus that’s vaguely psychedelic again, and certainly ripe for a West Coast driving accompaniment, while Fortunate Family Tree thrives on another surf rock intro that gives way to some more chilled acoustics.
Of note, too, are the similarly chilled folk pop of When The Dust Settles, the trippy Jorge Ben and the pensive album closer, Endings Are Beginnings, which weaves a sombre piano arrangement around some soul-searching lyrics.
For those that want to find out more, AM is an American through and through, having been born in Oklahoma, raised in New Orleans, and currently making a home in LA. That said, his musical influences range far and wide, a point he’s quick to attribute to the successful contribution of his band on the album.
“They really delivered on this album,” he says. “Before we got together to go over the songs I made everyone in the band a hand-picked playlist of everything I had been digging on in the last year: obscure Italian soundtracks and Brazilian music, psychedelic Turkish folk, deep cut soul and groove.”
Trust us, you’re going to want to buy Future Sons & Daughters so that it can enrich your life!!
Download picks: A Complete Unknown, The Other Side, Self Preservation, Grand Opinion, Endings Are Beginnings
Track listing:
The sculptor produces the beautiful statue by chipping away such parts of the marble block as are not needed – it is a process of elimination.
~Elbert Hubbard
Volunteers are needed for AM’s upcoming tour! Help out at a show in your area and get in FREE
Merch and mailing list volunteers needed for the following dates:
18 – Eugene, OR – WOW Hall
19 – San Francisco, CA – The Regency Ballroom
20 – San Luis Obispo, CA – Downtown Brew
21 – Santa Cruz, CA – Rio Theatre
22 – Los Angeles, CA – The Wiltern
23 – Tucson, AZ – Rialto Theatre
24 – Albuquerque, NM – Sunshine Theater
25 – Lubbock, TX – Jake’s
26 – Tulsa, OK – The Marquee
27 – Austin, TX – Stubb’s
28 – Dallas, TX – House of Blues
PLEASE email am@visionworksmusic.com for more information and to sign up! If you’d like to head up your school or city online promo team let us know.
AM’s new album comes out in the UK August 30 digitally and September 6 in record stores. Planning US and UK tours for November.
Support the album now on Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Future-Sons-Daughters-Bonus-Tracks/dp/B003UAW91K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1279040010&sr=8-1-spell
Check out September’s Q Magazine from the UK
“AM displays a rare talent, juggling everything from steamy tropicalia, to acoustic ballads, to shimmering ’70′s pop.”
Future Sons & Daughters (Album Review)
Indie Exotica from AIR-approved singer-songwriter.
Born in Tulsa, raised in New Orleans and now based in LA’s hipster enclave Silverlake, AM shares the same eclectic influences and thriftstore wardrobe as fellow West Coast oddball Beck. Not a comparison to be made lightly, but his debut displays a rare talent, juggling everything from steamy tropicalia (Jore Ben) to acoustic ballads (Leavenworth) to shimmering ’70s pop (Self Preservation), all under the watchful eye of The Magnetic Fields’ Charles Newman. With one Cuban heel already in the door thanks to a a recent UK tour with AIR, it’s only a matter of time before AM’s entry into pop’s arrival lounge. - Paul Moody, Q Magazine, 4 STARS
Reduce the complexity of life by eliminating the needless wants of life, and the labors of life reduce themselves.
~Edwin Way Teale
Just listened to the test pressing of Future Sons & Daughters on vinyl and it sounded amazing! The full artwork copies should be coming in late August…and then mailed out to all of you who ordered one.
Thanks for being patient!
Future Sons & Daughters Album Review
“With the first good weather we’ve had in days comes this pretty little record. Only a fraction over a half hour long, it’s short, sweet and unpretentious. At the moment, I’ve seen a raft of new west coast psych- meets Americana bands, and I’m fucking delighted, because as long as the output is as good as this, I’ve something to listen to as long as the weather holds. In terms of sound, it reminds me a little of Luther Russell, but instrumentally takes more of a Darker My Love style dark psych approach…
Personally, my favourite track on here is ‘The Other Side’, which lilts its way along, gently adding in dynamic shifts here and there- some vocal harmonies, a guitar melody line, that pass through the piece almost (but not quite) unnoticed. Special mention goes to the charming boy girl vocals on ‘It’s Been So Long’, but for the most part, the songs are of such a consistent quality that there’s not really a bad song on here. Consistency really is a virtue that’s increasingly being lost as the album as a format, as a medium, evolves with the times- this is an album in the classic sense, a body of work, well thought-out and coherent.” – High Voltage UK
AM’s new album “Future Sons & Daughters” is Album Of The Week at Rough Trade in the UK.
AM’s ‘Future Sons & Daughters’ is a moody and inspired album that touches on all of the New Orleans-musician’s favourite styles from baroque chamber pieces to mid-tempo country rockers. in that sense, such tracks as the atmospheric phil spector-ish number ‘the other side,’ the lead single ‘grand opinion,’ and the mellow country-rock anthem ‘fortunate family tree’ deliver on AM’s knack for quirky ’60s pop-inspired songs. similarly, the duet with Angela Correa, ‘it’s been so long,’ is pleasantly reminiscent of the classic lee hazlewood / nancy sinatra pairings. fans of introspective, classicist pop with more than a bit of wit and charm should find much to enjoy on ‘Future Sons & Daughters’.
We don’t need to increase our goods nearly as much as we need to scale down our wants. Not wanting something is as good as possessing it.
~Donald Horban
” ‘Darker Days’ bossa shuffle and symphonic soul strings and ‘Jorge Ben’s’ namecheck of the tropicalia hero hint at a wider alchemy”
- Uncut Magazine
PARTIAL LIST OF CONFIRMED UK PRESS:
Clash – ‘Local Heroes’ feature
The Fly
Q Magazine
London Tour Dates
Total Guitar – ‘Those About To Rock’ feature
London Tour Dates
Uncut- Album Review
Q Magazine- Q Top 50 Essential Tracks To Download
UK- Single Review- “Self Preservation”
“Self Preservation is the brilliant UK debut single from psychedelic rocker AM. Sunshine melodies and intriguing, yet at times despairing lyrics make for a fantastic UK debut single, sure to catch the attention of music fans all over the country.”- Josh Dalton // Ganymede, Crack In The Road, UK
Free! Starbucks is giving away a free itunes download card of AM’s song “It’s Been So Long” from the album Future Sons & Daughters.
Be content with what you have, rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.
~Lao Tzu
AM guests on friend Shawn Lee’s KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic performance on August 25, 2010 with DJ Jason Bentley. Shawn Lee has a new album called “Into The Wind” (Ubiquity) which is a collaboration with Bei Bei. Check it out.
Watch AM’s own KCRW Morning Becomes Eclectic performance here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Fx8_Zow1q8
“Local favorite AM adds a Brazilian twist to the expertly-crafted songs on his new album, Future Sons & Daughters.”- KCRW, 89.9 Los Angeles
the record itself
the sleeve (front and back)
the back
“Ironically enough, it takes a lot of effort for something to sound truly effortless, and Tulsa born, New Orleans raised artist AM has pulled it off spectacularly on his Debut UK single, Self Preservation.”- Will Howard, AAA Music UK
SINGLE REVIEW FOR SELF PRESERVATION:
Never Enough Notes
Taken from forthcoming album ‘Future Sons & Daughters’, ‘Self Preservation‘ is AM capturing the essence of 60?s psychedelic pop. The clap-along light hearted verses and the innocence of simple guitars and tambourines allow clear comparisons to be drawn from the era which gave us the likes of The Kinks and The Beatles.
However ‘Self Preservation‘ is not only recapturing the past, it is teaming a vintage sound with the new modern day wave of indie that so many artists seem to be doing so well. The song is a union of genres and a chance to showcase the bands that influenced AM.
This artist from New Orleans is unique and exciting: he hasn’t tried to fit in with the conventional by creating yet another indistinguishable indie song. Instead he has reminded us that songs don’t have to have climactic moments to be enjoyable.
At no point do you feel that Self Preservation has become dull and boring; it remains laid back, simply gliding along showing us what bands used to sound like.
If you cultivate a healthy poverty and simplicity, so that finding a penny will literally make your day, then, since the world is in fact planted in pennies, you have with your poverty bought a lifetime of days.
~Annie Dillard
