Photos courtesy of Fathers & Suns.

Call them what you want—folk meets surf rock, Talking Heads goes ska-ish—but there is one thing for certain: Long Beach band Fathers & Suns is thoroughly indie, even to the extent that the quartet has (almost) entirely independently finished the arduous process of recording and releasing their sophomore album & (pronounced “ampersand”) today.

Hoping to capitalize upon their Buskerfest win last year as well as the success of their debut album, Mama Provides, the band remains absolute in keeping it within the family rather than letting too many outsiders influence their music. In this sense, Fathers & Suns—made up of Arturo Bandini, Jesus Lara, Jay Penev, and Luis Renteria—might be growing in success but they aren’t going to let it go to their heads, or allow for the commodification of the band’s independence.

“It’s always interesting—and even surprising at times—to hear what bands our fans compare our music to,” said bassist Penev. ”We consider ourselves an indie rock band in the literal sense of the term: we have a fairly typical rock band instrumentation and we are working fairly independently, doing our own booking, promotion, recording and distribution. As musicians, it’s important to us to just create, express and not worry so much about what style we’re playing and who’s gonna like it.”

The album’s first two singles—“The End Is the Beginning” and “The Beat,” both of which can be listened to here—are testaments to the fact that the band has not strayed too far from its roots, but has an older soul. With their signature hints of 60s psychedelia, surf rock, and an overall ethereal feel, the two tracks become stand-outs for multiple reasons.

One is the haunting and intelligent vocals and lyrics, particularly in “The End,” where philosophical musings of truth and time create an awesome pairing given the guitar talents of Lara. “The Beat” might be more upbeat but its power is just as potent: 

Sittin’ on top of the world, wondering who’s down/ 
Who’s down there to come and get me?/ 
Transcending human thought, feeling

If anything, it proves that the band communicates better: with one another, with their audience, with their instruments. One could speculate that the Buskerfest win, which provided them the financial seed for the new record, could have influenced the growth in maturity, but one would be hard-pressed to get that kind of answer from the band.

Perhaps the answer lies in their intriguing obsession with the ampersand, which provides the aesthetic look of their name—Fathers & Suns, never Fathers and Suns—and the title of their album. The ampersand is all about connectivity and the emphasis is something that is clear on the Gabotron (aka Gabriel Gaete)-designed cover [pictured right], with a black, giant ampersand at the forefront of a white background.

“Early on, when we were deciding on a band name, it boiled down to just ‘Fathers And Suns’ or “Fathers & Suns,’” lead vocalist and guitarist Bandini once told Live Rock Gig. “We all were obviously, in the end, more attracted to the ampersand as a part to our name. Now it is the correct way to write our band’s name. As we were halfway through recording this album without an album name, it just came to me. I thought it would help to finally make a sort of statement with &. It is, after all, the correct way to write our band’s name and we have dealt with many friends and fans still spelling it as “Fathers And Suns.” I hope it simply sheds some light on this subject. The more I learn about history and the meaning of the logogram & and its usage, the more it brings a special meaning to me.”

If that special meaning has generated a more communicative band, the listener enjoys the bearing of that fruit more than anyone. For Fathers & Suns, though, they’re always in the now and, despite musings about textual symbology and space-time continuums, they openly admit that they don’t get hung up on the past, or take part in gimmicks that influence their music.

“If there is any outside influence in terms of restricting what we do, then the art is no longer true to the band,” Penev said. “We haven’t created expectations for the record, other than that we’ll go out there and play those songs and see where it takes us. If it resonates with people, then great and if it doesn’t, then that’s great, also. We love the songs and feel very strongly about them. That’s pretty much it.”

The only things one can expect at the release party and performance? Lara shredding, dance-circle eruptions, excessive smiling, and a lot of singing-along.

The sophomore album of Fathers & Suns, &, is now available digitally online and at Fingerprints and indie record stores on CD. Talks of a vinyl pressing are still in the works. Join the band at Fingerprints, located at 420 E 4th St., at 7:00PM tonight for a free performance and the opportunity to buy the album and plenty of Fathers & Suns schawg.

{FG_GEOMAP [33.7716936,-118.1870083] FG_GEOMAP}