Grails / Holy Sons / Lilacs & Champagne / Emil Amos

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TheWarmth
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Grails / Holy Sons / Lilacs & Champagne / Emil Amos

Post by TheWarmth »

Is anyone else into Grails / Holy Sons / Lilacs & Champagne / Emil Amos? Most of Grails' material is great. I highly recommend the 2017 album, Chalice Hymnal, as well as a number of their other releases. The band has moved into a more cinematic, atmospheric space, which I really dig, integrating elements of the sample-based offshoot band, Lilacs & Champagne. The Holy Sons (Amos's solo project) album, In The Garden, from 2016 is also fantastic. I believe I read that it was heavily influenced by Gene Clark's No Other, which makes sense. It's song-based and very lush. Amos has a new album out soon called Filmmusik, so I'll be grabbing that. I've also been digging into his podcast, Drifter's Sympathy. He tells weird stories and talks about discovering strange soundtracks and outsider music: http://www.feralaudio.com
TheWarmth
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Re: Grails / Holy Sons / Lilacs & Champagne / Emil Amos

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TheWarmth
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Re: Grails / Holy Sons / Lilacs & Champagne / Emil Amos

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TheWarmth
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Re: Grails / Holy Sons / Lilacs & Champagne / Emil Amos

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TheWarmth
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Re: Grails / Holy Sons / Lilacs & Champagne / Emil Amos

Post by TheWarmth »

This material seems like it would be right up the alley of a lot of Spiritualized fans. Nothing?
flokie
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Re: Grails / Holy Sons / Lilacs & Champagne / Emil Amos

Post by flokie »

I discovered Grails with "Doomsdayer's Holiday", so quite a while back, but it took me until "In the Garden" to get into Holy Sons. I'd read a handful of interviews with Emil earlier, and I'd tried to listen to Holy Sons a few times - but in these days of instant access to music if something doesn't grab you on first listen it's easy to just move on, and that's what happened.
I think the idea behind "In the Garden" was to make it sound as it was recorded in the 70s, and indeed the production is super lush, in contrast to earlier albums. I've bought a few more Holy Sons records since, not sure I'll manage a full collection as he's so prolific.

The podcast is really good too. It certainly helped me understand the general approach behind Holy Sons better, and why lo-fi home recordings. Some of his stories are hilarious, although there's some moving stuff there too. And the music episodes are great too. I've fallen a bit behind and need to catch up but looking forward the library music ep.

"Chalice Hymnal" is great - certainly a bit of a departure and I agree it feels very cinematic.I thought they did a good job with the special bundle release too - coloured vinyl, extra 7", artwork poster and 2 guitar picks for maybe an extra fiver over the 2xLP.
I saw them play in March, and while it was a very good gig, I was a bit surprised that they only played "Pelham" off the new record. A few from Black Tar Prophecies though!

I got a copy of "Filmmusik" yesterday - I was surprised to see it in the shop as I didn't think it was out yet, and indeed it's not supposed to be until next week. But still a bit too early to report.
flokie
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Re: Grails / Holy Sons / Lilacs & Champagne / Emil Amos

Post by flokie »

TheWarmth wrote: Amos has a new album out soon called Filmmusik, so I'll be grabbing that.
Any thoughts on that yet? I have to admit I'm not exactly overwhelmed by it. It was always going to be a bit of a weird mix with songs initially intended for 3 different bands/projects even though the songs here all share these cinematic qualities. But I dunno, it all seems to dissolve into a bit of a blur with few standout tracks for me. It definitely has a mood and all, but it's not an album I'll keep going back to, unlike Chalice Hymnal or In The Garden.

Chalice Hymnal's title track has just kept growing on me since it was released, I remember a review talking of its softcore porn soundtrack qualities, but I can't agree with that: it's more like a soundtrack to sex scenes in horror movies. It's sexy but something nasty will happen next!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxZaEoBoNlY
TheWarmth
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Re: Grails / Holy Sons / Lilacs & Champagne / Emil Amos

Post by TheWarmth »

I haven't purchased it yet. Just checked Spotify and it's weirdly not available there.
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Re: Grails / Holy Sons / Lilacs & Champagne / Emil Amos

Post by TheWarmth »

Filmmusik is on Spotify so I'm playing it now. So far it hasn't really grabbed me. I probably won't buy it. However, I was listening to Holy Sons' In The Garden the other day and I LOVE that record. So lush.
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