Holy Sons (band)
Encyclopedia
Holy Sons is a one-man solo band built around Portland
songwriter
and drum
mer Emil Amos. Amos is notable for releasing "genre-bending" albums, according to LA Weekly music reviewer Chris Martins, and for being a prolific songwriter; one account in Spike Magazine
suggests he has written over a thousand songs. Amos is also a multi-instrumentalist for groups such as Grails
and Om
and Dolorean
. Amos was born of the lo-fi home recording movement of the '80s and early '90s.
Amos described the mission of his music as "facing your personal reality." Amos said in an interview that, beginning at age sixteen, he used drugs every single day and didn't let up for years. A music critic for The Guardian
described him as a prolific songwriter and as having a "great voice". Reviewer Rob Cullivan of the Portland Tribune described Holy Sons' album Survivalist Tales to be an "ode to the dime novels in the early 1900s that peddled the stoires of wilderness explorers," and described the music as "sonic wanderings" with "strange song structures." A review in the Portland Mercury described his music as "dark, languid psychedelia" and commented how Amos has "habitually been kept underground" with few live performances up until the last few years. His vocals have been compared to Neil Young but change personalities quite often. Willamette Week described the album Decline of the West as "a varied, meticulously constructed piece of avant-folk that stands alone by its own merits."
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
and drum
Drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...
mer Emil Amos. Amos is notable for releasing "genre-bending" albums, according to LA Weekly music reviewer Chris Martins, and for being a prolific songwriter; one account in Spike Magazine
Spike Magazine
Spike Magazine is an internet cultural journal which began in 1996, founded by its editor Chris Mitchell in Brighton, England. Updated monthly, its motto is "picking the brains of popular culture", though it has an intellectual inclination.-Description:...
suggests he has written over a thousand songs. Amos is also a multi-instrumentalist for groups such as Grails
Grails (band)
Grails is an American instrumental rock band from Portland, Oregon.-Biography:Initially going by the name "Laurel Canyon", guitarist Alex Hall, drummer Emil Amos and second guitarist Paul Spitz garnered positive reactions following their first show, played on a whim...
and Om
Om (band)
Om is a duo formed in 2003 by the rhythm section of the disbanded Stoner doom metal band Sleep. The band's first three albums feature Al Cisneros on vocals and bass and Chris Hakius on drums. Their music is similar in structure to Tibetan chanting....
and Dolorean
Dolorean
Dolorean is an American band based in Portland, Oregon. They have, at times, acted as the backing band for Damien Jurado. Their current line-up is: Al James, guitar/vocals; Jay Clarke, organ/piano; Ben Nugent, drums/percussion/vocals; James Adair, bass; and Emil Amos, guitar.-Hiatus:After the...
. Amos was born of the lo-fi home recording movement of the '80s and early '90s.
Amos described the mission of his music as "facing your personal reality." Amos said in an interview that, beginning at age sixteen, he used drugs every single day and didn't let up for years. A music critic for The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
described him as a prolific songwriter and as having a "great voice". Reviewer Rob Cullivan of the Portland Tribune described Holy Sons' album Survivalist Tales to be an "ode to the dime novels in the early 1900s that peddled the stoires of wilderness explorers," and described the music as "sonic wanderings" with "strange song structures." A review in the Portland Mercury described his music as "dark, languid psychedelia" and commented how Amos has "habitually been kept underground" with few live performances up until the last few years. His vocals have been compared to Neil Young but change personalities quite often. Willamette Week described the album Decline of the West as "a varied, meticulously constructed piece of avant-folk that stands alone by its own merits."