Album Review: The Family Crest returns with Prelude To War
It’s been two years since San Francisco orchestral pop band The Family Crest released Beneath the Brine, a breakout that led to the group’s first national headlining tour and commercial licensing deals. A large chunk of the intervening time went to touring, including a slot at Outside Lands in 2015. But now we know the band soon returned to the studio. The end result is new EP Prelude to War, and hints at the group’s next full-length album, War.
Prelude To War
The Family Crest
April 28
The EP, out April 28, presents a new direction for the band. Where Beneath the Brine and previous material all centered around classical instrumentation and incorporated jazz, folk and cabaret, rock takes center stage on four of the album’s five tracks. But the band also retained its signature layered harmonies, string flourishes and dramatics.
The Family Crest debuted the first song, “Mirror Love,” with NPR, which has championed singer-guitarist Liam McCormick, flutist Laura Bergmann, bassist John Seeterlin, cellist Charly Akert, violinist Owen Sutter, drummer Charlie Giesige and trombonist George Mousa Samaan in the past.
“Mirror Love,” is the clearest appetizer of the band’s new sound. The song channels Snow Patrol through The Family Crest’s symphonic filter. McCormick sounds desperate when he sings, “Well we fall apart when there’s no one around/ And we move it off to a dying sound/ We’re all just passengers waiting here to go down/ Screaming give me what I need.”
A funky brass interlude, with trumpets, sax and trombone and other instruments add to what is The Family Crest’s best dance song to date.
The Family Crest
8 p.m., Saturday, June 3
Great American Music Hall
Tickets: $20-$45.
The closing track, “Battle Cry,” is led by the string arrangements rather than the dance beat, but is no less driving or passionate. McCormick wails: “Oh my love, don’t cry/ We were born to die/ Before this moment, for all time/ I will fight for you/ I will die for you.” The band was influenced, like many artists, by the opposition to the current U.S. administration. And “Battle Cry” is the track that acts as a de facto transition to the forthcoming full-length album. But if these lyrics are any indication, the War to come is just as much personal as it is political.
The album’s five tracks are split in the middle with a more traditional The Family Crest track, the down-tempo, orchestral “Don’t Wake Me,” featuring a slow kick drum and classical piano overlaid with infrequent acoustic guitar strums. Four-fifths of the way through, the song begins a build, with other instruments joining to create the band’s signature symphonic pop, letting the melody speak for itself. It’s a breezy, contemplative song, with McCormick singing about the feeling of waking up next to a lover. The atmospherics conjure of white curtains billowing in an open doorway. “Now that your body is lying next to me/ Now that the world is sleeping at our feet/ Now that the waking of our hearts is clear,” he sings.
The Family Crest will kick off a five-week tour the day of the EP’s release. See the dates below.
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SPRING TOUR 2017
April 28 Los Angeles, CA – Bootleg Theater | Tickets
April 29 Phoenix, AZ –The Rebel Lounge | Tickets
May 1 Dallas, TX – The Double Wide | Tickets
May 2 Austin, TX – Stubb’s BBQ | Tickets
May 4 St. Louis, MO – Blueberry Hill | Tickets
May 5 Nashville, TN – The Basement | Tickets
May 7 Atlanta, GA – Aisle 5 | Tickets
May 9 Washington, DC – Rock & Roll Hotel | Tickets
May 10 Philadelphia, PA – Boot & Saddle | Tickets
May 11 Boston, MA – Café 939 | Tickets
May 12 Burlington, VT – Signal Kitchen | Tickets
May 13 New York, NY – Mercury Lounge | Tickets
May 14 Pittsburgh, PA – Club Café | Tickets
May 16 Cleveland, OH – Beachland Tavern | Tickets
May 17 Ferndale, MI – The Loving Touch | Tickets
May 18 Chicago, IL – Schubas Tavern | Tickets
May 19 Milwaukee, WI – The Backroom at Colectivo Coffee | Tickets
May 20 St. Paul, MN – Turf Club | Tickets
May 22 Denver, CO – Lost Lake Lounge | Tickets
May 23 Salt Lake City, UT – Kilby Court | Tickets
May 25 Seattle, WA – Barboza | Tickets
May 27 Portland, OR – Doug Fir Lounge | Tickets
June 3 San Francisco, CA – Great American Music Hall | Tickets