Sons of Sevilla chart their musical geography with Street Light Moon. The album is one for endless summers and retro-futurist reveries, inspired by an entire world’s worth of influences: the family-owned British pub where brothers and band members Henry and Reuben Smith grew up, watching their parents sling drinks as songs by John Prine and J.J. Cale played over the speakers; the marina in Gibraltar where they spent three weeks aboard an old fishing trawler, writing the album’s songs as waves splashed against the dock; the recording studio in Austin, Texas where they recorded Street Light Moon with Grammy-winning producer Adrian Quesada and a small group of multi-instrumentalists. Those landscapes come together on Street Light Moon, forming a sound entirely of the band’s making, nodding to modern-day alt-pop one minute and ‘70s psychedelia the next.
The latest single from the duo’s anticipated album, “Butterfly,” leans on the psychedelic rock side of Sons of Sevilla’s wide-ranging sonic terrain. A light fog begins to fill the room as soon as you press play on “Butterfly,” although the tones and melodies don’t indicate a moody environment at all. That mist stems from the textures created when the two meet, creating a sonic conflict between the jovial vocals and clouds that hover above them. The magic is in the nuances, and the duo thrives under these circumstances. The distant vocals create a unique depth that adds whimsical layers to the twinkling keys and breezy guitars, giving “Butterfly” a multi-dimensional feel. Sons of Sevilla are gearing up for Street Light Moon, and “Butterfly” is the mesmerizing single from the LP, hinting at another sonically diverse outing from the young duo.
