Oddly enough many bands I fell in love with when discovering the alternative and indie scene pretty much failed to impress me with their later work. Thus I have long since abandoned pursuing new material with bands whose late-eighties/early nineties stuff impressed me considerably. Writing for this blog might make up for this, and because of it I'm now listening to the album "Further From The Truth" by the gloomy yet romatic band And Also The Trees.I first heard the song "Slow Pulse Boy" in an alternative radio show back in probably 1988. I was lucky enough to record it on a cassette and played that cassette to shreds for many months afterwards, this ultimately compelling me to buy their first album which somehow found it's way to into the only decent record store in Iceland. Indeed the guy who sold it to me was the one hosting that radio show, and I am forever indebted to this man whose name shall now be immortalized; Sigurður Ívarsson.
Now, And Also The Trees is a strange band, and I'm inclined to think there's nothing like it. Their trademark sound, at least on the early recordings, which I first mistakenly thought was keyboards, is actully guitar "awash with with heavy flange, chorus and delay" to quote a reviewer much more capable than me of describing the music. They have what I can imagine as being sort of gloomy Byronian romantical aura about them, and strong and very visual lyrics, conjuring up images of foggy dark forests, ruins and abandoned, ivy-covered mansions in an eerie british landscape, or so I imagine. "Gothic" is probably the word I'm looking for, although the only goth band I know is Fields of the Nephilim which I do not associate with this band.
And Also The Trees were formed in 1979, and amazingly are still playing and releasing material. Their first album was produced by Laurence Tolhurst of Cure fame, and indeed they were The Cure's supporting band on a tour in 1981. Most of what they released after their 4th album has gone way past me and now I'm catching up on that material, which for the most part seems more mellow and less creepy. Just a little less though. Gone are the throbbing bass lines which had a considerable influence on myself as a bass player, and they seem to be somewhat taking it easy on the flangers now. I've decided to post a few tracks to get you interested, and I strongly recommend the first albums, the self-titled debut, Virus Meadow and Millpond Years.
From the self-titled debut album (1984): Impulse of Man
From Virus Meadow (1986): Slow Pulse Boy
From Millpond Years (1988): The House of the Heart
From Further from the Truth (2003): The Untangled Man
Visit their official web site here.
I listened a lot to "Virus Meadow" in my post punk years. A great record with a somewhat otherwordly quality to it. Come to think of it, "Slow Pulse Boy" was always my favorite song off of the record. Never investigated their later stuff as I was told they headed down the (very unlikely?) path of americana and surf...?
I don't think there's any surf in their later work, from what I've listened to I could possibly say it has somewhat of a Nick Cave-ish/Tindersticks quality to it.