Family Portrait is a band from Ridgewood, NJ.
They define their sound as Neo-soul / New Wave / Power pop on their MySpace page , but in my opinion their music is much more diverse. It has many elements of indie, acoustic and folk rock, with some funk and blues influences. It’s very hard to pin point a genre they belong to or just describe their sound in a word or two. In my opinion this is one of the things that makes good bands. Having the ability of mixing and eluding genres while creating something genuine.
Their sound is dominated by the guitars and vocals. That is where all the action is happening. There are many beautiful guitar riffs and licks with very nice lyrics and vocal melodies over it all.
The vocalist has a raspy bass-y voice which when combined with the indie like riffs and rhythmic music provides a new sound full of energy yet still pegged down with the big vocals. So you get the best of both worlds; rhythmic indie music with a ton of guitars but without the high pitch soaring vocals. Their sound is very similar to what would happen if The Editors and the Black Keys made music together.
Family Portrait is definitely a unique and original band in terms of musical output and very much something that you’ll enjoy even if you’re just a casual listener.
Family Portrait will be playing live this Saturday May 21st at Maxwell’s in Hoboken, New Jersey.
Check out Family Portrait’s Myspace page to hear some of their songs: http://www.myspace.com/officialfamilyportrait
Watch Family Portrait’s video for “Mega Secrets”: