Family & Friends – “Vestiges” (audio) (Premiere)

Family & Friends spring from the fertile Athens, Georgia music scene, which values eclectic approaches to making music. The septet blends Americana and folk with mellow African rhythms performed by two drummers in a thoroughly original way. Members of Family & Friends met at the University of Georgia and describe their band as a true collective that relies on each member to share ideas in a collaborative process. The group recorded their new EP XOXO in that mecca for American roots music, Asheville, North Carolina and today they are sharing a new track with us, “Vestiges”.

Mike MacDonald tells PopMatters that, “where our first EP Love You Mean It focused thematically on love, the new EP XOXO reflects on the motif of nostalgia. It’s a little bit darker and heavier in that respect I think. Lyrically, ‘Vestiges’ is actually one of the more somber tracks off the EP, but musically it’s on the other end of the spectrum. I think it plays on that fine line of the bittersweetness of the recollection of a memory in that respect.”

Family & Friends’s new EP XOXO releases on July 17th.