Holy Sons

Since his duties in Grails, Om and Delorean apparently don't fill his calendar, Emil Amos has pencilled in his second solo album of the year for Important Records. Following April's release of paranoia pocketbook Drifter's Sympathy, Amos's target decade has remained the '70s. Here, his sticky fingers draw together cynical stoner-isms, electric blues dirges and quasi-cultish sounds akin to a Manson-damaged Doors. His laconic drawl and loopy instrumentalism also call to mind vintage Beta Band, albeit from a darker side of the pharmacy. "Arranged Release" staples a languid Hendrix intro to a rocket-fuelled space jump that would make Hawkwind proud. "Fermenting Mind" and "Criminal's Return Pt. 1" revisit the bedroom/drum machine experimentation of The Decline of the West. Amos set out to create a "feel bad" album, and he has achieved it, but like a good horror story, it's one you can take a ride alongside and jump to safety when you're done.