Friend of the site and musician/producer Oliver Ignatius pointed me toward this EP that he co-produced recently, and boy am I glad he did. Sons Of An Illustrious Father may be taking the torch of rootsy folk-rock from fellow New Yorkers The Felice Brothers as the latter moves forward into the mainstream. While I won’t dwell on any similarities other than genre between the two bands, I will say that if you like one, I would assume you’d like the other.

The thing that I love most about We Are Dead And Reborn is that it’s long. It’s only four songs, but it clocks in over 25 minutes. How great is that? My love/hate releationship with EP’s stems mainly from the length. Sometimes an EP can be really good and short, but more often than not it raises more questions about a band than it answers. Here, I get everything I need to know about this band in a nice little package that keeps on giving.

The sound created here is kind of a mix of southern gothic, gospel, hillsongs, and garage rock. Many would call it alt-country, but that saying doesn’t really do anyone justice anymore. Basically any rock song that features mandolin or banjo is alt-country. This is far more spiritual music than most “alt-country” and I wouldn’t dream of lumping it in with some of the artists related to that genre.

“We Are Dead And Reborn,” “Wisdom Psalm,” and “Dido’s Lament” are all really good songs, but at the end of the day, it really is all about “Sanskrit” for me. It hits the highest highs and trudges through the lowest lows, both beautiful in their own way. I won’t ruin it by going through the whole seven and a half minute song, but there are some great harmonies and accordion work going on here.

We Are Dead And Reborn is available as a free download on Sons Of An Illustrious Father’s website. You can check out the whole thing below if you’d like to hear it before you buy it-for free. I assume my recommendation is enough to entice you to click the download button, though.

I know very little about the band members, but here is the listing they provide:

Sofia Albam — vocals, accordion, viola
Josh Aubin — electric bass, vocals
Jake Generalli — vocals, electric guitar, organ, piano, mandolin
Lilah Larson — vocals, electric & acoustic guitar, banjo
Ezra Miller — vocals, drums, percussion