Holy Sons
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Holy Sons is a one-man solo band built around American songwriter and drummer 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 Lilacs & Champagne. 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 16, he used drugs every single day and did not 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 stories 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."
Discography
Albums
| Year | Album details | |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | The Lost Decade Released: January 2000 Label: Pamlico Sound | |
| 2002 | Staying True to the Ascetic Roots Released: May 2002 Label: Pamlico Sound | |
| 2002 | Enter the Uninhabitable Released: October 2002 Label: Red 76 | |
| 2003 | I Want to Live a Peaceful Life Released: July 2003 Label: FILMguerrero | |
| 2005 | Decline of the West Released: December 2005 Label: Partisan Records | |
| 2009 | Drifter's Sympathy Released: April 2009 Label: Important Records | |
| 2009 | Criminal's Return Released: October 2009 Label: Important Records | |
| 2010 | Survivalist Tales! Released: October 2010 Label: Partisan Records | |
| 2013 | My Only Warm Coals Released: April 2013 Label: Important Records | |
| 2014 | Lost Decade II Released: April 2014 Label: Chrome Peeler | |
| 2014 | The Fact Facer Released: September 2014 Label: Thrill Jockey | |
| 2015 | Fall of Man Released: August 2015 Label: Thrill Jockey | |
| 2015 | Decline of the West Vol. I & II (deluxe reissue) Released: December 2015 Label: Partisan Records | |
| 2016 | In the Garden Released: October 2016 Label: Partisan Records | |
| 2018 | Lost Decade III Released: April 2018 Label: | |
| 2020 | Raw and Disfigured Released: OCT 2020 Label: Thrill Jockey | |
| 2025 | Puritan Themes Released: OCT 2025 Label: Thrill Jockey |