There’s no way you’re not familiar with Sons of Ra at this point.  We just featured a fascinating profile of them earlier this week, but they jumped on my radar when I paired their 2024 EP Tropic of Cancer with a delightful beer from our local brewery.  Hilariously, since then I have managed to catch Sons of Ra playing live at that very brewery, and my infatuation with them only grew stronger after seeing them pull off the myriad sounds, textures and styles they are capable of in a live setting.  Now, on the Boxing Day of the release of their first full-length Standard Deviation, I bring you not only a review of this album, but a review of their record release show at the one-of-a-kind Reggie’s Rock club, my favorite dump of a music joint in this whole god-forsaken city.

Standard Deviation might be the debut full-length from the Chicago fusion/prog/metal trio, but it also marks twenty years since they began playing music together.  That is quite a long time to wait for a debut, but I assure you, Standard Deviation is well worth the wait.  There is something so effortless about the way that the trio of Erik Oldman Vecchione (guitar), Keith Wakefield (bass and tenor saxophone) and Michael Rataj (drums) work together to fly through a potent mix of their own interpretations of jazz classics (I just realized that’s where the title comes from) and original compositions.  The dynamic interplay between Wakefield’s basslines and saxophone leads and the lyrical response from Vecchione’s guitar is mesmerizing, and it should come as no surprise to hear that each core member of the trio exhibits virtuosic execution on all the instruments they play.  “Disintegration (Alabama Revisited),” the lead single and opening track on Standard Deviation, sets the bar pretty high for the rest of the record with a stone cold killer groove from Wakefield’s sax, the trademark call-and-response of guitar and saxophone leads, and Rataj’s flashy sense of style behind the kit.  Wakefield personally kicks the album off with a bang for me, because not only do we get lots of saxophone improv, but also a nasty bass solo to boot.  And then, just when you find yourself questioning just how heavy Standard Deviation really is, it all breaks down into a giant atonal barrage of noise that any grindcore band would be jealous of.  Honestly, Standard Deviation feels right at home here on a heavy music blog, despite its decidedly jazzy nature.  “Don’t Know Yet” is an absolutely punishing romp through doom inspired passages interspersed with funky breaks, and “Upstart” relies heavily on dissonance to get its point across.  The Sons themselves admit they struggle with being a heavy band at their core, but not only do they manage to pull it off with style, they incorporate so many different influences in a way that seems absolutely natural, from Latin to funk and blues to progressive rock and free jazz.  Each track on Standard Deviation feels like it has a life and identity of its own, but it’s all held together with the instrumental prowess and unique voice of each member of the trio.

I’ve always found it especially admirable when bands do more with less, and Sons of Ra pull that off in spades here, although they get by with a little help from some friends, both on the record and live.  Having previously seen Sons of Ra in concert, I knew they made extensive use of loop pedals so that Wakefield can switch between his two main instruments and Vacchione can lay down leads over rhythms, but to my surprise, the trio morphed into a septet on stage for their record release show this past Saturday.  Rounding out the lineup core instruments were a second guitar, flute, alto saxophone and violin, which all have found their way onto Sons of Ra releases in the past.  I managed to get to the show early enough to watch them set up and soundcheck, and the sheer amount of gear they were hauling made me excited for what was to come.  Kicking off the bill was Puke in the Icetray, a contender for the best band name I’ve heard in a long time and another wickedly eclectic trio from the hometown.  There really is no better way to describe them than to use their own words: Instrumental World Math Surf Progressive Country Jazz Metal.  Their set truly was all those things and more, and I had a blast watching everyone else in the room cringe at the black metal and grindcore that burst out in between jazz breaks and funk romps.  Next up was Wave Cage, who played a decidedly more straightforward and straight up cool take on fusion.  More Herbie Hancock and less Mahavishnu, but with all the fun and modern funk of BADBADNOTGOOD.  Needless to say, they were a great segue into the main event, and when Sons of Ra took the stage the place lit up.  All that extra instrumentation served them incredibly well, and every song felt like a live setting unlocked so much more to discover in the track.  To hear Vecchione, Wakefield and Rataj recorded is one thing, but to see them actually pull off the acrobatics on the record live is something else entirely.  Rataj especially brought the house down; the joy of a record release show seemed to bring out some animalistic quality in his playing that was electrifying, and the rest of the band seemed to feed off that energy and the energy of being surrounded by friends and family.  It really was a special performance from them, and it solidified them as a must-see live act for me.

All that, and they had their own brand of hot sauce as merch after the show, so I snagged a bottle of the namesake Standard Deviation, which is a pineapple mango and habanero sauce.  Delicious and well balanced between heat and actual flavor, just like Standard Deviation the album.  If we haven’t said enough good things about this album yet, let me make one more petition for you to listen to this gem: it’s incredibly worth your time, whether you are a fan of fusion, progressive rock or metal, or even none of those things. There is something undeniably special about Standard Deviation, and I think this is (finally) only the beginning for Sons of Ra.

— Ian

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Standard Deviation is available now on Free Electric Sound.  For more information on Sons of Ra, visit their official website.