A side effect of the current glut of aggressive garage rock is the suppression of the looser, not-so-aggressive style. Enter Blue Tree, a band capable of expressing itself with languid, flowing style. Even the more upbeat tracks such as "Almost Real" feature the same swaying, eyes-half-shut vocal delivery that permeates Beautiful Shadow. Indeed, no matter how the band tries to swing the vibe, the vocal tracks on this record evoke images of a powdered Brit singing underwater amidst the manta rays and sea anemones and not so much, say, your local rock dive. Beautiful Shadow has many pivotal- sounding songs; be it the smooth drama of "Beautiful Shadow" the song or "Found (In the City)," a superiorly tasty track in which Blue Tree finally hits home. Although they prove themselves capable in other musical metaphors, the band sounds happiest in the world of indeterminate emotion. It's hard to tell whether they're feeling hopeless or hopeful and part of the fun is in the guessing. While the band has a consistent tone that could be mistaken for lack of depth, they are able to amp up the voltage when they choose to do so. When the mood is right, the band switches gears from their usual cruising speed of "Flow" up to a more intense "Sway" setting. The band successfully switches back and forth in "Your Old Guitar," one of the last tracks on the record. The final is an untitled piece performed on a dark, resonating piano. This untitled piece really says a lot about Blue Tree's vibe via principle tied in with execution - the fact the band wrote this piece then put it as a tail to the record speaks volumes. This short coda retains the emotional arrhythmia already stated throughout the record, but lays it all out front. |
