If These Trees Could Talk
Above the Earth, Below the Sky

Release Date: 2009 | Tracklist

If These Trees Could Talk have flown under the radar for quite a while now, having quietly self-releasing their self titled EP in 2006 and now doing the same with their first full length release. Listening to the album this seems a little strange as the band clearly take their cues from the genre's leading stars in sound terms and would quite happily slot in alongside Explosions in the Sky in any post rock fan's collection. The album achieves a kind of distillation of many of the best facets of post rock, managing to deliver a compact but tasty selection of instrumental soundscapes, switching between thunderous noise and equally weighty silences punctured with some delicate harmonies.

If that sounds a bit familiar it's because it's a tried and tested formula. When there's no vocals bands feel compelled to turn up the volume and go for an epic sound. If These Trees Could Talk succeed by keeping to the formula but simplifying it by kicking much of the unnecessarily repetitive and dare I say it, boring, sections of post rock out. Only one of these songs stretches past the 7 minute mark and the listener is never kept waiting too long time for a moment of aural gratification while the band repeats themselves interminably. That's not to say there's no repetition but it's kept to a sensible length to create the desired atmosphere without causing irritation. This technique is exemplified by opener 'From Roots To Needles'. The soft beginning atmosphere lulls you in but just 1 and a half minutes in it reaches a thunderous noise that subsides and rears it's head again at short intervals, each lull more layered and each crescendo more explosive than the last. The song could easily have simply been one long lull followed by an equally long crescendo but the careful pattern makes it much more interesting for the listener.

The thunderous explosions and gradual build ups are built in fairly typical post rock manner. The triple guitar attack of the band generally features rhythmic harmonies overlaid with reverberating soft noise that gradually collapses into a crushing wall of needling but heavy guitar noise. Between this rise and fall are various echoing single note riffs that give the album a satisfyingly natural and empty sound in keeping with the title and band name. There's very little distortion and the songs all feel very layered, each instrument working on top of one another in a distinct way. This does not get in the way of the heaviness of the material though. The most memorable moments of the album and the ones that make it worth buying are the climaxes of the songs which frequently cross over into almost post-metal territory by virtue of their sheer heaviness. The best example (and the best track) is 'What's in the Ground Belongs to You' where the metallic pounding riff is joined by the high reverberating guitar to form a brilliantly bombastic climax.

However these elements are not just the signature sound of the band, they are really the only sound present. As the album reaches the mid way mark it starts to become uncomfortably clear that when you strip post-rock to it's essentials you're perhaps not left with too much. Too many of these songs use the same techniques and similar structures to form a sound not quite as emotional and vital as the one before and while it would be a little harsh to say that having heard one track means you've heard them all (the tracks are too technically accomplished and carefully constructed to dismiss so quickly) certainly you might have trouble distinguishing which one is which without the help of a track list. The band resolutely sticks to the guitars + bass + drums equation but other post rock bands have successfully included pianos or even entire orchestras to add variety to their songs and I'd have been very interested to see what If These Trees Could Talk could do with that at their disposal in addition to their instinct for what length a song should be. Even within that formula it would have been nice if the drums or bass had been given a moment in the spotlight to mix it up a little. Instead, even with the cut down lengths of each track, the album falters towards the end. This shouldn't put off any post-rock fan from checking out this album but it might be enough to keep them from joining the leading stars of the genre.

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3.7 great

Rank: #0 for 2009