Name: Family BandFrom: Delhi, New York
Story: Husband-and-wife, metal-and-melancholy
Sound: Atmospheric swirls, sweet singing
Family Band is no misnomer: the duo are husband-and-wife, Kim Krans and Johnny Ollsin, and their music is at the center of their union, or an extension thereof. Ollsin's history is as metal guitarist, and whilst Family Band's nocturnal, melancholy mood-music is completely lacking in shred, you can hear that history; in how big and bold the dynamics are, how dramatic the atmosphere, how precise the playing; in, mostly, the complete lack of punk bumbling or lo-fi fumbling.
'Introducing' a band on their second LP feels like some kind of faux pas in an era where bloggers' boasting rights goes to the earliest bird, but Grace & Lies, the second set for Family Band, seems likely to be the band's breakout. And not just because Daniel Rossen from Grizzly Bear makes an appearance.
Going two whole paragraphs without mentioning Krans' voice is a rarity in Family Band write-ups; all the resplendent atmospherics are, in so many ways, about creating soundscapes that serve her beauteous singing the most. They've been compared to Cowboy Junkies a bunch, but Family Band also remind me of The XX, in some ways; how things are kept stripped-down but 'built' up with atmospheric echo, always remaining precise. But where the young Londoners love of precision comes from the influence R&B programming, Family Band's is owed to metal.
- Download: Family Band, "Night Song"
- Stream: Family Band, "Moonbeams"
- Visit: Family Band website
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