Band: Delay Trees
Title: Soft Construction EP
Label: N/A
Release Date: 2009
Review By: Scott L
Tracklisting:
- Desert Island Song
- About Brothers
- Moving
- Coral Wind
- Tarantula / Holding On
- Replay
- Resurrection Of Sonic Blue
There are some bands that you just can’t get into. There are also bands that need a little time to grow on you. And then there are bands that you have an immediate affinity for. I liked Delay Trees right off the bat. There was no two ways about it. I liked the retro feel and I loved the flowing harmonies. It’s just great mellow mood music that eases into your mind and slowly captivates you.
Delay Trees is a 4-piece out of Helsinki, Finland that has a sweeping groove that reminds me of bands like Burning Hearts or Firekites, only smoother and less pretentious. Think of them as a modernized, euro version of The Moody Blues fronted by a Jesse Sprinkle protégé. It’s dreamy indie-pop with a soothing cadence.
Their “Soft Construction EP” is, just as the name implies, an EP. Weighing in at seven songs and lasting just under 30 minutes, this is a well-produced and highly enjoyable release. Packaging is good and I particularly liked reading through the names in the CD jacket because there’s no way I could correctly pronounce any of them… but it’s still fun to try.
Lyrically, Delay Trees is far from long-winded in the writing department and pretty ambiguous in the spirituality department. Consider the track with the coolest name award, “Tarantula / Holding On”, which says, “it’s hard to do this now / returning home / ‘cos I know we’ll meet somehow / tarantula / can you remember where / ten years ago / I was tangled up with fear / you’ve never felt / your room was clean and bright / corners full of air / someone shook my hand in the dark / tarantula / can you remind me that I’m still alive / because of something that I’ve found / it can never die”. Spiffy song name… but not too sure what it’s all about. And that’s pretty much the way this release plays out. The music is uniformly great… but if there’s an overarching theme or meaning to the messages in the songs… I’m not catching it.
The standout track was “About Brothers” which has a very The World Inside kinda feel to it. And again, the vocal harmonies are spectacular. “Moving” was also worthy of mention. To tell you the truth, there wasn’t really anything on this CD that I didn’t like. It’s solid from start to finish.
Overall: Delay Trees’ release “Soft Construction EP” is really worth your time to check out. Mellow indie-pop with an ambient tidal flow.
www.myspace.com/delaytrees