And Also The Trees - 2020 Record Store Day reissue of 1984 debut album
For Record Store Day 2020, the self-titled 1984 debut album by the British goth-rock band called And Also The Trees was released in America for the first time, as an expanded limited-edition double-LP. The two discs were pressed in green and black splattered vinyl, and the set was limited to 2,000 copies. It was released on August 29th of 2020, the first of three unusual RSD “drop” dates resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
This album will be of interest to fans of The Cure, because it was produced by original Cure percussionist Laurence “Lol” Tolhurst, who gave the debut a more Cure-like aura than most of the Trees’ later work – none of which, to the best of my knowledge, has ever been released in the U.S. in non-digital formats. Most recordings by And Also The Trees – who are still active to this day – may be too esoteric for American tastes, and possibly for others as well. After all, this band’s sound was once described by the late English DJ John Peel as “too English for the English”. Still, the And Also The Trees debut album will be accessible, and worth discovering, for fans of The Cure and the goth-rock genre in general.
The dark, foreboding sound of And Also The Trees certainly resembles that of the Cure – the early Cure, that is, before that band moved into the mainstream with The Head On The Door. The lyrics often mention silence, with fear and other dark emotions lurking underneath, presumably a description of rural life in their hometown of Worcestershire, England. The music, however, is anything but silent, with a menacing atmosphere reminiscent of the Cure albums Pornography and The Top. Lead vocalist Simon Huw Jones sings in a quavering baritone, emphasizing those dark internal emotions; during a few of the songs (“So This Is Silence”, “The Tease The Tear”), Jones lets out some anguished screams, as if the surrounding silence is driving him to madness. “Impulse Of Man” suggests domestic violence, though it is unclear if the violence is literal or symbolic. The last three tracks (“Shrine”, “Twilights Pool”, “Out Of The Moving Life Of Circles”) tone down the intensity to some extent, but the lyrical imagery does not seem any more hopeful.
The third side of the RSD double-LP contains four tracks from non-album singles from the same time period, also produced by Tolhurst. These tracks are also reminiscent of the early Cure, but more on the order of that band’s Seventeen Seconds and Faith albums. “Shantell” and its B-side “Wallpaper Dying” describe the eerie feeling of a lonely rural winter. “The Secret Sea” – the 7-inch single version – sounds a tad less Cure-like than the rest, but has an equally dreamlike aura, as it describes the strange dreams that a girl has just before waking.
The fourth side contains the tracks from the 1982 cassette-only demo EP From Under The Hill, which contained early versions of six songs from the debut album. This EP was not produced by Tolhurst, but it was co-produced by Robert Smith and Mike Hedges, which is possibly the reason why Jones often sounds uncannily like Smith on these versions. On these demos, the gloomy atmosphere is not as dense, making the songs seem less imposing and more abstract. In particular, “Tease The Tear” is longer and less menacing, while “Out Of The Moving Life Of Circles” is less smooth and more distant. And Also The Trees don’t necessarily sound any less Cure-like on these demo tracks, but some of their stylistic differences are more noticeable without Tolhurst’s production overpowering them.
Will this release win this band any new American fans? It probably won’t do so in large numbers, especially if it remains a limited-edition item. However, And Also The Trees is probably the best starting point for anyone who wishes to investigate their work further.
And Also The Trees “And Also The Trees” (Graveface GRAVE162) 2020
Track Listing:
1. So This Is Silence
2. Talk Without Words
3. Midnight Garden
4. The Tease The Tear
5. Impulse Of Man
6. Shrine
7. Twilights Pool
8. Out Of The Moving Life Of Circles
9. Shantell
10. Wallpaper Dying
11. The Secret Sea
12. There Were No Bounds
13. So This Is Silence
14. Tease The Tear
15. Out Of The Moving Life Of Circles
16. Impulse Of Man
17. Midnight Garden
18. Talk Without Words
Tracks were compiled from these U.K. releases:
And Also The Trees “From Under The Hill” EP (BPM 021) 1982
Track Listing:
1. So This Is Silence
2. Tease The Tear
3. Out Of The Moving Life Of Circles
4. Impulse Of Man
5. Midnight Garden
6. Talk Without Words
And Also The Trees “Shantell” (single) (Future FS 9) 1983
Track Listing:
a. Shantell
b. Wallpaper Dying
And Also The Trees “And Also The Trees” (Reflex FLEX 1) 1984
Track Listing:
1. So This Is Silence
2. Talk Without Words
3. Midnight Garden
4. The Tease The Tear
5. Impulse Of Man
6. Shrine
7. Twilights Pool
8. Out Of The Moving Life Of Circles
This album will be of interest to fans of The Cure, because it was produced by original Cure percussionist Laurence “Lol” Tolhurst, who gave the debut a more Cure-like aura than most of the Trees’ later work – none of which, to the best of my knowledge, has ever been released in the U.S. in non-digital formats. Most recordings by And Also The Trees – who are still active to this day – may be too esoteric for American tastes, and possibly for others as well. After all, this band’s sound was once described by the late English DJ John Peel as “too English for the English”. Still, the And Also The Trees debut album will be accessible, and worth discovering, for fans of The Cure and the goth-rock genre in general.
The dark, foreboding sound of And Also The Trees certainly resembles that of the Cure – the early Cure, that is, before that band moved into the mainstream with The Head On The Door. The lyrics often mention silence, with fear and other dark emotions lurking underneath, presumably a description of rural life in their hometown of Worcestershire, England. The music, however, is anything but silent, with a menacing atmosphere reminiscent of the Cure albums Pornography and The Top. Lead vocalist Simon Huw Jones sings in a quavering baritone, emphasizing those dark internal emotions; during a few of the songs (“So This Is Silence”, “The Tease The Tear”), Jones lets out some anguished screams, as if the surrounding silence is driving him to madness. “Impulse Of Man” suggests domestic violence, though it is unclear if the violence is literal or symbolic. The last three tracks (“Shrine”, “Twilights Pool”, “Out Of The Moving Life Of Circles”) tone down the intensity to some extent, but the lyrical imagery does not seem any more hopeful.
The third side of the RSD double-LP contains four tracks from non-album singles from the same time period, also produced by Tolhurst. These tracks are also reminiscent of the early Cure, but more on the order of that band’s Seventeen Seconds and Faith albums. “Shantell” and its B-side “Wallpaper Dying” describe the eerie feeling of a lonely rural winter. “The Secret Sea” – the 7-inch single version – sounds a tad less Cure-like than the rest, but has an equally dreamlike aura, as it describes the strange dreams that a girl has just before waking.
The fourth side contains the tracks from the 1982 cassette-only demo EP From Under The Hill, which contained early versions of six songs from the debut album. This EP was not produced by Tolhurst, but it was co-produced by Robert Smith and Mike Hedges, which is possibly the reason why Jones often sounds uncannily like Smith on these versions. On these demos, the gloomy atmosphere is not as dense, making the songs seem less imposing and more abstract. In particular, “Tease The Tear” is longer and less menacing, while “Out Of The Moving Life Of Circles” is less smooth and more distant. And Also The Trees don’t necessarily sound any less Cure-like on these demo tracks, but some of their stylistic differences are more noticeable without Tolhurst’s production overpowering them.
Will this release win this band any new American fans? It probably won’t do so in large numbers, especially if it remains a limited-edition item. However, And Also The Trees is probably the best starting point for anyone who wishes to investigate their work further.
And Also The Trees “And Also The Trees” (Graveface GRAVE162) 2020
Track Listing:
1. So This Is Silence
2. Talk Without Words
3. Midnight Garden
4. The Tease The Tear
5. Impulse Of Man
6. Shrine
7. Twilights Pool
8. Out Of The Moving Life Of Circles
9. Shantell
10. Wallpaper Dying
11. The Secret Sea
12. There Were No Bounds
13. So This Is Silence
14. Tease The Tear
15. Out Of The Moving Life Of Circles
16. Impulse Of Man
17. Midnight Garden
18. Talk Without Words
Tracks were compiled from these U.K. releases:
And Also The Trees “From Under The Hill” EP (BPM 021) 1982
Track Listing:
1. So This Is Silence
2. Tease The Tear
3. Out Of The Moving Life Of Circles
4. Impulse Of Man
5. Midnight Garden
6. Talk Without Words
And Also The Trees “Shantell” (single) (Future FS 9) 1983
Track Listing:
a. Shantell
b. Wallpaper Dying
And Also The Trees “And Also The Trees” (Reflex FLEX 1) 1984
Track Listing:
1. So This Is Silence
2. Talk Without Words
3. Midnight Garden
4. The Tease The Tear
5. Impulse Of Man
6. Shrine
7. Twilights Pool
8. Out Of The Moving Life Of Circles
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