By BRUCE DENNILL
A Los Angeles-based outfit that combines male-female harmonies with energetically strummed and picked acoustic guitars, Family Of The Year embrace the West Coast sound of the Sixties and Seventies with both arms, possibly even occasionally slipping it a little tongue.
Giving the enduring power of much of the music made in that era, such commitment to an idea is a good idea on paper – and so it proves in practice.
Early on, The Stain, Buried and first single Hero all provide sunshine pop that’s challenging enough lyrically and in arrangement terms to be more than good mood music. Family… have also nicked some themes from their predecessors, with Hey Ma riffing on the homesickness that comes with spending months away on tour (“What’s up with the scene? Is it still the same? Will I still fit in?”).
The album closes as strongly as it begins, with In The End, Never Enough and particularly the Crosby, Stills & Nash-alike Find It leaving listeners with good vibes to spare.
* The Stairs 7.25
* Diversity 7.50
* St Croix 7.25
* Buried 7.25
* Hero 7.50
* Everytime 7.00
* Living On Love 7.00
* Hey Ma 7.25
* In The End 7.50
* Never Enough 7.00
* Find It 9.00
Rating: 7.409