Tallest Trees have crafted a debut that jumps out of the speakers with an unclassifiable melange of musical sounds. Part psychedelic, part electronic and wholly engaging, the band's inaugural full-length, The Ostrich or the Lark, will be unveiled August 17 via Other Electricities. An album full of intentionally misplaced instruments, clashing harmonies, multidimensional arrangements and elements out of character, the pair's pop sensibility acts as the firm roots holding the wild sonic collage together.
Recorded mostly in the dining room of a log cabin in East Nashville, the duo of Thomas "Trees" Samuel and Dabney "Voice" Morris create rhythmically and melodically dense music, skirting the edges of genres, while seamlessly combining electronic sounds with acoustic elements. The end result is sweeping soundscapes with pop hooks that are at once familiar and inventive and instantly alluring.
Opening with "Human Voice (Echo 1)," the album begins with solemn synths and dual voices announcing "We are just an echo" before segueing into the playful and jubilant "Alouette!," which pairs a toy piano with call and response vocals and unbridled percussion to great result. "Skinny Little Wrists" follows suit with layers of instrumentation that sounds more like the product of an indie pop orchestra than a two-person production.
Throughout the song, the band's kitchen sink approach is clearly evident as they combine jaunty keys, a spiraling synthesizer line, handclaps, booming drums and an assortment of other sounds to accompany their intertwining voices. This tactic, which the band executes with great precision on nearly all the album's 14 tracks, is never abrasive, jarring or dull but instead helps them create a sprawling musical world where Tallest Trees grow and can stretch their limbs to the sky.
