ALBUM REVIEW: The Family Plays Together and Stays Together on 'Delusions of Grandeur'

What does it look like when the family business is music? In the case of The Family — a kind of “supergroup” made up of singer-songwriter Dylan LeBlanc and his father James LeBlanc, stepmother Angela Hacker, and stepbrother Bay Simpson — it’s a little messy. On the band’s first album, Delusions of Grandeur, they’re unpacking some of the baggage that splintered them apart and eventually brought them back together to FAME Studios in the LeBlancs’ native Muscle Shoals, Alabama in 2020 to record it. Released by Dylan LeBlanc’s brother-in-law’s Big Black Cow Records, Delusions of Grandeur is a true family affair, one that feels effortless in the ways it shines a light on each member’s individual artistry. LeBlanc’s woozy mysticism, his father’s easy grooves, Hacker’s swoony soul, and Simpson’s sparkling twang all come together in a potent, singular blend of R&B, country, folk, rock, and pop.

Each member of The Family gets a few turns on lead vocals across Delusions of Grandeur, but it never feels disparate. Echoes of Fleetwood Mac’s smooth, ‘70s soul-pop show up on the Simpson-led standout “Everybody Loves You Now” just as much as Hacker’s “The History of Things to Come” or James LeBlanc’s “The End.” The arrangements have a smokiness to them, all blazing guitars and heady harmonies, connecting cuts that might otherwise be on different wavelengths. Hacker’s epic finale, the belter “Hammer,” feels right at home with her son’s country crooner “I’ll Take It.” Even Dylan LeBlanc’s tracks, like the clanging and brooding “Pick Your Poison,” sung in his unmistakable voice, take a new shape in the fold with his family.