And Also the Trees "Mother-of-pearl Moon" (2024)

Mother-of-pearl Moon

release date: Feb. 23, 2024

format: digital (11 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,88]

producer: Matthew Devenish

label: AATT - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 2. "The Whaler" (4 / 5) - 3. "Town Square" - 4. "Mother-of-pearl Moon" - 5. "This Path Through the Meadow" - 6. "Valdrada" - 8. "Visions of a Stray" - 9. "Field After Field" - 10. "Ypsilon"

[ album playlist ]

16th studio album by And Also the Trees follows 1½ years after The Bone Carver (Sep. 2023) and is like that made with producer Matthew Devenish and to the usual procedure the album is released on the band's own label.

The album shows a will to explore stylistic ground anew, and in that regard this new collection of songs differ from the band's most recent releases, which have all shown a stronger audible bond to the band's origins in a gothic rock setting. Mother-of-Pearl Moon invites us on a more mellow and subtle type of transport, which is both like a movement through different familiar places as well as a journey through time - and not as such back to the 1980s as much as much further back to another Century. Songwriter Simon Jones shapes these poetic pieces with his dark vocal as centre structure coloured by delicate percussion, bass and strings, which takes us through ancient European landscapes, often inspired by an atmosphere you would be likely to locate to 19th Century Paris or London. Originally, the band expressed itself with excessive theatrical postures - the link to a world of plays still lures on all tracks but in a much more refined manner provoking to your stolen attention, because the music cannot lie when it opens up and reveal its true nature. And that's a truly remarkable and fascinating creature they have come up with this time.

Mother-of-pearl Moon is no less than a great release from one of Britain's underestimated acts.

Highly recommended.

[ SputnikMusic 4 / 5 stars ]

[ bandcamp ]

And Also the Trees "The Bone Carver" (2022)

The Bone Carver

release date: Sep. 9, 2022

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 6½ 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.

And Also the Trees "Born Into the Waves" (2016)

Born Into the Waves
release date: Mar. 18, 2016
format: cd (AATTCD08)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,56]
producer: self-produced
label: AATT - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Your Guess" - 2. "Hawksmoor & the Savage" (4 / 5) - 3. "Winter Sea" - 4. "Seasons & the Storms" - 5. "The Sleepers" - 6. "Bridges" - 10. "The Skeins of Love"

14th studio album by And Also the Trees is yet another self-released album. The cover info only mentions recording, mastering, and mixing credits - Justin Jones (of the band) and Matthew Devenish recorded the album [the latter also handled mixing]. The band formed some 38 years ago - only two members remain from the original line-up, the brothers Jones, vocalist Simon Huw and guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Justin. On this the two form a quartet with bassist Ian Jenkins and drummer Paul Hill, which means that keyboardist Emer Brizzolara apparently has left the band since the predecessor Hunter Not the Hunted from 2012.
The style is unchanged from the 2012 release, which implies quiet somber alt. rock with focus on narration, and I like it. In fact, I think it's the best album by the band in some 30 years reaching back to 1989 and Farewell to the Shade. I really think this band has evolved quite nicely over the decades. After the strong start in the '80s with strong bonds to the gothic rock of post-punk they took a long time in finding the expression, at times mixing with this and that, and then in the new millennium they sort of found their sound. They always had that particular strong relation to ancient British prose and poetry. And in the past it sometimes took an almost theatrical biased path too strongly, and at times with excessive use of strong dynamics. Now, the gloomy narration remains, underlined by Simon Jones' dark vocal and a like-wise dark and baroque instrumentation - but what sounded forced in the past with string arrangements and horns has now turned into beauty because of a wiser approach with a more scarce instrumentation. The music blends and supports the stories, which are half prose and half poetry. It truly deserves more attention.
Recommended.

And Also the Trees "Hunter Not the Hunted" (2012)

Hunter Not the Hunted
release date: Mar. 26, 2012
format: cd (AATTCD08)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,52]
producer: AATT
label: AATT - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Only" (4 / 5) ( live ) - 2. "Hunter Not the Hunted" - 7. "The Woman on the Estuary" - 8. "What's Lost Finds" - 12. "Angel, Devil, Man and Beast"

13th studio album by And Also the Trees is another self-released and self-produced album, which is the continued (good) style from their 2007 release, (Listen For) The Rag and Bone Man only with a more alt rock, folk rock element in the gloomy tristesse. Before this they released two acoustic albums with Driftwood (2011) as the most recent. Two albums that possibly made the band understand how powerful their back catalog is without keyboards and synths to express musical dynamics, and those experiences have helped shaping this album, I think.

And Also the Trees "Driftwood" (2011)

Driftwood (mini-album)
release date: Sep. 29, 2011
format: cd (AATTCDM02)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,52]
producer: Matthew Devenish (recording credits)
label: AATT - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "The Suffering of the Stream" (live in Toulouse) - 3. "Belief in the Rose" (live in Toulouse) - 6. "The Way the Land Lies" - 8. "The Untangled Man" (live in Toulouse)

12th studio album by And Also the Trees is according to the label and the band's official website a 'mini album' containing eight additional tracks to the 2009 release When the Rains Come, thus again an album of solely acoustic versions of older songs.
Without listening to the album I found it a superfluous release having 'just' released an album of this kind, but I have to give it to the band, it's really a fine contribution with strong, intense and quite different versions compared to the originals. The inlay info reveals that the album was recorded in the aftermath of a 2009-10 tour, which apparently exhibited the band playing the acoustic versions from the most recent and acoustic album, and one can only imagine how the need and / or lust for expanding the set list with other songs than the obvious versions. With a bunch of new acoustic songs this album was easily perceived. Despite its shorter playing time of just under 30 minutes it's a rather varied compilation of songs but nonetheless another fine album.

And Also the Trees "When the Rains Come" (2009)

When the Rains Comes
release date: Jun. 8, 2009
format: cd (AATTCD07)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,55]
producer: *self-produced
label: AATT - nationality: England, UK
*Credits only mention recording, mixing and mastering credits

Track highlights: 1. "Virus Meadow" (live in Toulouse ) - 2. "Dialogue" (live in Toulouse) - 4. "Mary of the Woods" (live in Toulouse) - 5. "Jacob Fleet" (live in Toulouse) - 6. "Candace"

11th studio album by And Also the Trees is, once again, a self-realised album. Its the first of two consecutive albums to feature only acoustic versions of songs from their back catalogue, and it contains 14 tracks and runs approx. 51 minutes. The music has been stripped down to melody lines with Simon Huw Jones' strong and dark vocal accompanied by acoustic guitar, double bass, dulcimer / or melodica and some backing vocals only. The result is surprisingly powerful and almost mesmerising.
The album has nothing to do with selling old wine on new bottles, as one could suspect when releasing a new album featuring old songs. And the fact that the songs go as far back as the mid 1980s is never heard because of a total revitalisation of music making it a firm and strong whole, which makes me think of the great contemporary Liz Green and her fine alternative folk and singer / songwriter albums Haul Away from 2014 and the great debut O, Devotion! (2011).
Many of the songs on the album were part of a live tour "Livequest #50" [?]. The remaining songs were later reworked in the studio and released on the album Driftwood (2011).

=> French documentary about the process leading to When the Rains Come.

And Also the Trees "(Listen For) The Rag and Bone Man" (2007)

(Listen For) The Rag and Bone Man

release date: Nov. 12, 2007

format: cd (AATTCD06)

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,52]

producer: self-produced

label: AATT - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Domed" - 2. "The Beautiful Silence" - 3. "Rive droite" - 4. "Mary of the Woods" - 9. "Stay Away From the Accordion Girl" (live) - 12. "A Man With a Drum"

10th studio album by And Also the Trees is another self-released album. The cover info only mentions recording and mixing credits - Matthew Devenish recorded and mixed. This is the first album not to feature bassist Steven Burrows, and it's the first to have both new bass player Ian Jenkins and keyboardist Emer Brizzolara as new members, which means that the band by now has been expanded to a quintet (actually, Burrows has never officially left the band, although, he hasn't taken an active part in the process of the band's later releases - as now of 2016).

The album marks a return to a more evident gothic rock, post-punk that doesn't really sound outdated. In 2007 that's a work well done! I think, they succeed pretty well by focusing on their strengths in producing tension within beauty and darkness. By doing so they remind me of Tindersticks, although, the previous album is even closer to the Tindersticks style. Without strings and brass this is hardly chamber pop but it has that certain sincerity and beautiful narration, which characterises their best albums - when music and vocals go hand in hand, and when the music supports the lyrics instead of drowns them.

And Also the Trees "Further From the Truth" (2003)

Further From the Truth
release date: 2003
format: cd (AATTCD04)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,48]
producer: AATT and Matthew Devenish
label: AATT - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "21 York Street" - 2. "He Walked Through the Dew" - 3. "The Man Who Ran Away" - 4. "In My House" - 6. "Pale Sun" - 7. "The Reply" - 11. "The Untangled Man"

9th studio album by And Also the Trees is like the predecessor a self-issued and self-made album, and it has been five years in the making. It takes on an interesting change of style compared to the surf rock-styled Silver Soul (1998) and the previous albums, which have seen the band on what seems a constant search of a style, although, they firmly manage to stick to themselves altogether, and regardless new musical influences. The album marks a turn, like many of their recent albums, only this time to a more poetic experimental chamber pop, which doesn't feel far from the style of Tindersticks. What I really like here is the absence of strong keyboards and synthesizers trying to lift the band's sound to a potent force, which in the past could tend to be on an excessive side. Here, it's all about compositions - a dwelling at the song itself. It may not be at the same level as their best albums of the 80s but I like it - it's gooood, proving there's much more life to this band than some would have it.

And Also the Trees "Silver Soul" (1998)

Silver Soul
release date: 1998
format: cd (AATTCD03)
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,24]
producer: Justin Jones
label AATT - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Nailed" - 2. "Blue Runner" - 3. "Rose-Marie's Leaving" - 5. "Where the Souls Meet" - 6. "Get Critical" - 10. "Highway 4287"

8th studio album by And Also the Trees is a self-released and self-produced album, again with guitarist and main composer Justin Jones as producer, which continue a style with surf rock as heard on Angelfish (1996). Justin has created a more up-tempo and uniform sound and style on this compared to the predecessor. Before finishing the recordings for the album, drummer (and founding member) Nick Havas left the band. He was then replaced with new drummer Paul Hill. With the two most recent albums the band has changed its style quite drastically, although, Simon H. Jones' vocal still haunts throughout the tracks making it a distinct album by this band, and the drumming (despite a new drummer) and bass-lines still keep the soul of AATT intact. The keyboards have been reduced and are less dominant, and on an overall level, it really has its moments.
Admittedly, I saw this as a low-point in the band's career but think better of it in retrospect.

And Also the Trees "Angelfish" (1996)

Angelfish
release date: 1996
format: cd (MEZCD1)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,38]
producer: Justin Jones
label: Mezentian - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Brother Fear" - 3. "The Next Flight to Rome" [instr.] - 6. "Tremaine" - 8. "Roulette" - 9. "The Butcher's Daughter" [instr.]

7th studio album release by And Also the Trees is its only release on the label Mezentian, and the first of two consecutive albums with Justin Jones as producer. Former (favourite) producers Mark Tibenham and Richard Waghorn are credited for mastering and as engineer respectively. In the band's search of a new style this is a more bold attempt with surf rock, which was tempted on The Klaxon (1993). It's really not unsuccessful as Justin Jones plays a fine original surf rock guitar - e.g. as heard on the instrumental tracks "The Next Flight to Rome" and "The Butcher's Daughter", and the overall result is a surprising journey into more positive territories.
My experience here tells me that it may take some time to fully adjust oneself to the blend of surf rock and post-punk, but I have come to consider it a more than decent experiment, which would be continued on the successor.

And Also the Trees "The Klaxon" (1993)

The Klaxon
release date: Oct. 25, 1993
format: cd (Normal 164)
[album rate: 3 / 5] [2,92]
producer: *Richard Waghorn (recording credits)
label: Normal Records - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 3. "Jonny Lexington" - 5. "Dialogue"

6th studio album by And Also the Trees and the second to be released by German label Normal Records. As with the predecessor the album credits omits production credits, and only mentions recording, mixing and mastering credits.
The style is the continued progression away from the gloomy post-punk, although, they still keep that style intact incorporating a slightly surf rock guitar sound and a more experimental approach to its repertoire.
I don't find it as successful as Green Is the Sea and it turns out as a so far low point.

And Also the Trees "Green Is the Sea" (1992)

Green Is the Sea
release date: Jun. 1992
format: cd (Normal 134CD)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,42]
producer: *Mark Tibenham
label: Normal Records - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Red Valentino" - 2. "The Fruit Room" - 5. "Blind Opera" - 7. "The Woodcutter" - 11. "Jacob Fleet"

5th studio album by And Also the Trees is the band's first after leaving Reflex Records and thus its first to be released with German label Normal Records. The credit list doesn't mention a producer, but only reveals that it was recorded by Mark Tibenham, who produced the predecessor.
The album marks a new beginning in more than one sense, since the band has now left Reflex, and the music has undergone a stylistic change towards a more baroque pop style, although, it clearly still builds on gothic post-punk.
Back in '92 I didn't think much of the new music by AATT, or: their music was only vivid thanks to the albums released from 1984 to 1989, and I found it lacking good songs thinking of it as too theatrical. The word 'dull' came to my mind, but listening to it today, I cannot understand my rejection 'cause they were actually doing quite well, and the album is far from my then verdict. Perhaps, looking for new styles and tendencies at the time made me bury what sounded too heavily linked to post-punk. Admittedly, I don't find it truly great, but it has much more to offer than a first listen could suggest. And frankly, it does sound more in sync with present time than the contemporary grunge rock or techno as one easily associates with the early 1990s music scene.

And Also the Trees "Farewell to the Shade" (1989)

Farewell to the Shade
release date: Oct. 1989
format: vinyl (LEX 10) / cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,68]
producer: Mark Tibenham
label: Reflex Records - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Prince Rupert" (4 / 5) - 2. "Macbeth's Head" - 4. "Belief in the Rose" - 5. "The Street Organ" - 6. "Lady d'Arbanville" (4 / 5) - 7. "Misfortunes" - 10. "The Horse Fair"

4th studio album by And Also the Trees (cd issue on Troy Records) is this time produced by Mark Tibenham, who is also credited for keyboards is not quite as great as the band's previous two albums but is still a very fine release. As the title implies it's an end of dark sinister gothic rock, and they really want to make new music, and that's also the album's weakness as it contains brilliant tracks that could be fitted easily on their previous two albums, and at the same time it contains attempts to define a new style of brighter compositions. I think, it's quite typical for bands of this period and style: you can't really keep making music that is so bound to a certain time as gothic post-punk. This is a small change into a more positive universe, which goes much further on the forthcoming albums. "Lady d'Arbanville" is a cover song (written by Cat Stevens). The original is a fine baroque pop song from 1970, but here it's nicely turned into gloomy gothic rock.
The band is still the same quartet as on the three previous albums but here they have been supported by producer Mark Tibenham's keyboards, which adds that extra layer to the soundscape that I do see as an addition - a true potential - but which also serves as too strong dynamics and makes some of songs tend to theatrical excesses.
[ allmusic.com 4 / 5 stars ]

And Also the Trees "The Millpond Years" (1988)

The Millpond Years

release date: May 1988

format: vinyl (LEX 9) / cd (1992 reissue)

[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,92]
producer: AATT and Richard Waghorn
label: Reflex Records - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "The Suffering of the Stream" (4,5 / 5) - 2. "Simple Tom and the Ghost of Jenny Bailey" - 3. "The House of the Heart" - 5. "Count Jeffrey" (4 / 5) - 7. "The Sandstone Man" (4 / 5) - 8. "From the Silver Frost" (4 / 5) - 9. "The Millpond Years" (4,5 / 5)

3rd studio album by And Also the Trees released on Reflex (cd-issue on the German label, Normal) and produced by the band and Richard Waghorn. The album contains really great tunes and has an overall superb feel making it almost on par with their best album Virus Meadow (1986). The greatness of the predecessor is in a way repeated on this, stylistically and musically with a new element of keyboards.
It doesn't quite reach the same level of greatness as it feels less original. What seemed new and refreshing in '86, the theatrical Shakespearian lyrics, becomes less apparent on this. Another minor issue with the release is the inconsistent soundscape as a whole. By this, I mean, the thematic contrasts that one will find in eg. the beauty and lightness in songs like "The House of the Heart" and "From the Silver Frost", which are indeed the opposite of what one has come to associate with the band. On the other side it contains the melancholic hopelessness in e.g. "Count Jeffrey".
The (new) additional keyboard element by Mark Tibenham adds strong dynamics to the songs, yes! But this is almost too much. I think, the 'problem' is that the music in itself - the bold melancholy in both Simon's voice and the music - contains the genuine dynamics and with the almost thundering additional keyboards (by Mark Tibenham) the music nearly drowns itself making the 'problem' more of a productional one. However, critics really liked this - and so do I.
Before this they released the live album The Evening of the 24th (1987).
[ allmusic.com 4 / 5 stars ]

And Also the Trees "Virus Meadow" (1986)

Vinyl cover

Virus Meadow
release date: Jun. 1986
format: vinyl (gatefold - LEX 6, NR 335) / cd (1992 reissue)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,18]
producer: And Also The Trees, Richard Waghorn, Mel Jefferson
label: Reflex Records / Normal - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Slow Pulse Boy" (4 / 5) - 2. "Maps on Her Wrists and Arms" - 4. "Vincent Craine" - 5. "Jack" (4 / 5) - 6. "The Headless Clay Woman" (4 / 5) - 7. "Gone... Like the Swallows" (4 / 5) - 8. "Virus Meadow" (4,5 / 5)

2nd studio album release by And Also the Trees released on Reflex Records is the band's masterpiece. The voice of Simon Huw-Jones plays a central part for this band and has a tone quite similar to that of Stuart Staples of the Tindersticks. The music is post-punk, gothic rock and for some it may seem outdated today but the album has a certain theatrical feel, which I really like, very much due to the story-narrating Simon Jones but also thanks to the 'orchestration': the complexity of the drums, the insisting and fretless-like bass, and the edgy, psychedelic, and haunting guitar [just listen to "Slow Pulse Boy" 01:55, or "Virus Meadow" (virtually whole track but note) 02:15]. The production sound of the album is similar to that of Tinderbox by Siouxsie and the Banshees, which has a spacious, almost 3D sound, with plenty of room for guitars and drums. The songs are gently sown together, making it a near conceptual and altogether well harmonised album. It’s not an album for background noise, music for work, or the like. It requires the listener’s full attention and may then take you on a special experience.
[ allmusic.com 4 / 5 stars ]

[ collectors' item - from ~ 40€,- ]

1992 cd cover

And Also the Trees "And Also the Trees" (1984)

vinyl cover

And Also the Trees [debut]
release date: Feb. 1984
format: vinyl (LEX 1) / cd (1992 reissue)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,36]
producer: Laurence Tolhurst
label: Reflex Records - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "So This Is Silence" (4 / 5) - 5. "Impulse of Man" - 6. "Shrine" - 7. "Twilights Pool"

Studio album debut by And Also the Trees is produced by Laurence Tolhurst (The Cure) and issued on Reflex Records as its first album issue - the '92 cd issue is released on Normal Records. Here the band consists of the brothers Jones: Simon on vocals and (younger brother) Justin on guitar together with new bassist Stephen Burrows (who replaced Graham Navas after a clash between Graham and the other members in early '83) and Nick Havas on drums.

The style is a promising gothic rock and post-punk release. I bought the album upon its release and immediately fell for their dark and haunting sound. The first track is great; however, the rest is of varied quality, or: not highly original material, as some tracks seem like attempts to create something similar to the sound of The Cure on Seventeen Seconds (1980) blending with strong influence of Joy Division.

[ allmusic.com 3 / 5 stars ]

[ collectors' item - from ~ 35€,- ]

1992 CD cover

And Also the Trees

~ ~ ~

And Also the Trees: formed 1979, Inkberrow, Worcestershire, UK. Current line-up: [brothers Simon and Justin] Simon Huw Jones (vocals), (younger brother) Justin Jones (guitar), Emer Brizzolara (keyboards, from 2007), Steven Burrows (bass guitar, from 1983), Ian Jenkins (bass guitar, double bass, from 2004), Paul Hill (drums, from 1997).

Former members: The Havas brothers: Graham (bass guitar, 1979-1983), (younger brother) Nick (drums, 1979-1997).

I listened to the AATT from the very start of their musical career, and immediately bought their first four albums upon their release. What I found in their music was another post-punk style than many of the other artists at the time. The initial style is close to The Cure, Bauhaus and Joy Division, but AATT focused much more on poetic stories by Simon Huw Jones, making 'their' sound based on narration and haunting melodies. They never gained a huge crowd, and reviewers seldom appreciated their style, which many thought of as too theatrical, unfitting in the musical progression from post-punk into art rock. Once you're familiar with the sound of Simon's voice and the orchestrated, almost "baroque" alt. rock, you might get drawn into a fascinating whirlpool of poetic narration. 

~ ~ ~