Terrible Sons – In Five Movements

The Piano presents ‘Coffee Concerts’ Sundays at Eleven. Celebrating New Zealand Music Month, May 2024.

Terrible Sons is the ‘folkish’ coming together of songwriters and musicians LA Mitchell and husband Matt Barus. The couple live with their two children in an intentional community in Ōtautahi. Their music reflects their local neighborhood while exploring the tensions of some of the more interior feelings we share: exhaustion & joy, heartbreak & love, loneliness & companionship.
Both have had extensive and varied experiences in music; from supporting artists such as Stevie Wonder, the Pretenders and Blondie, (who they also wrote songs for) as session musicians for Dave Dobbyn and as a member of Fly My Pretties, to playing a show on a special MTV flight between Auckland and Sydney. Lately, as Terrible Sons, they’ve been touring Aotearoa while releasing a quartet of EP’s and their recent critically acclaimed debut LP The Raft Is Not The Shore through Nettwerk Records.

“There’s a paradoxical fragility yet strength in the songs: fragility anchored in life’s uncertainties (reflected in the album title); strength in the pervasive optimism. A Covid-era inspired and delayed album, The Raft Is Not The Shore now sails our way carrying with it the growing reputation of Terrible Sons. Listen to the album and see them live. Their songs float on a tide of rare depth and beauty.” 13th Floor