These Scots’ studious reverence for gothic Americana — as defined by Johnny Cash and later updated by the likes of the Gun Club — was well-documented on their first two releases, and it would be safe to assume that they would venture further down that dusty road to get a better grasp of the music’s elemental roots. But that would’ve been boring as all hell, so they hired Suede guitarist Bernard Butler as producer and went glam instead. Butler’s mixing-board makeover sometimes robs Sons and Daughters of their mischievous personality and fashions the songs into standard-issue indie, but when the band’s ’50s pop affinities coalesce with the producer’s flair for ’70s-sized spectacle, the result is pure glitter-rock gold: from the threatening platform-booted stomp of “The Nest,” to the sock-hop shimmy of “Darling” and “Chains,” This Gift smartly trades in the grease for Grease.

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