Judging by their press notes, Pirate Sons are a rock trio who are living the rock and roll dream at the moment. Made up of an Englishman, a Scot and a New Zealander (not the start of a bad joke), the group write their music surrounded and influenced by some of Edinburgh’s top creative talent.
The result is a hard hitting rock EP which pounds along merrily with an undercurrent of musical subtlety that marks it apart from many rock bands. There’s a clear love here for the loud, with huge drums and distorted guitars aplenty, but take a listen to the rhythmic switches and stabs of closer ‘Long Gone’ and you’ll see there’s more to Pirate Sons than high volume.
Opener ‘Dirty Dirty Rascals’ also hides an understated guitar lick amongst its shuffled, throwaway rhythm, while the rise/fall, light/shade structure of ‘Foolish’ is the sign of a band who construct rather than thrash out their tunes.
Showing a lot of promise with this debut release, Pirate Sons are doubtless a rock band with genuine potential. It will be interesting to see where they go from here.