release date: Sep. 9, 2023
format: digital (10 x File, FLAC)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,48]
producer: Matthew Devenish
label: AATT - nationality: England, UK
Track highlights: 1. "In a Bed in Yugoslavia" (official video) - 2. "Beyond Action and Reaction" - 4. "The Girl Who Walks the City" - 5. "The Book Burners" - 7. "Another Town Another Face" - 8. "Last of the Larkspurs" - 9. "The Bone Carver"
15th studio album by And Also the Trees following 7½ years after Born Into the Waves (Mar. 2016). The album doesn't actually mention producer credits but suffice to mention recording engineer Matthew Devenish, who have worked with the band as mixer and recording engineer since the making of Further From the Truth (2003). The band's bassist since (Listen For) The Rag and Bone Man (2007) Ian Jenkins has here been replaced by Grant Gordon.
Stylewise, this is yet another darkwave-founded release as the natural follow-up to the band's last two albums. It adds a few more fine tracks to a long list of compositions that are linked to an original gothic rock scene of the 80s without sounding as if recorded back then, but the band doesn't exactly hand us a bunch of challening new material, and in that way it has become increasingly more difficult to tell their recent albums from one another. In one way, it's a band that positively stays true to its original sound and then neither seems to be really interested in artistic progression. Another positive side to it, is the quality of the songs, as it appears without any fillers.
Still, The Bone Carver is a worthwhile listen.
