It's been just five years since Sons & Daughters released their short debut Love the Cup, an album that grabbed the discerning muso community by the shoulders, shook them from head to toe, and dropped them like a hot deep-fried Mars bar. Its superb 2005 successor The Repulsion Box provided more of the same - rollicking rock 'n' roll with a sinister undercurrent - and subsequent support slots with the likes of Morrissey and Franz Ferdinand established the Glaswegian quartet as one of the most distinctive alt-rock bands the UK has seen in recent years. This Gift, their Bernard Butler-produced third outing, ploughs the same dark, menacing musical furrow and sees the double-edged sword of frontman and woman Scott Paterson and Adele Bethel in as robust and dynamic form as ever. Sounding like a cross between Justine Frischmann and PJ Harvey, Bethel's deliciously sexy vocals intersect Paterson's jagged, urgent riffs to great effect on sultry offerings such as Gilt Complex, Flags and Iodine. Still, although this is an album with a consistently urgent temperance - the frantic, shoulder-shaking pace never really abates - the more 'straightforward' songs here (Split Lips, This Gift, Darling) are just as enjoyable, while rockabilly (The Bell, House in My Head), '60s garage (Rebel With A Ghost) and skirt-twirling '50s-style rock 'n' roll (Chains) all get subtle nods, too. Sons & Daughters manage to make every embezzled genre their own, here, though - and This Gift is one that will keep on giving with every listen.
