IF THESE TREES COULD TALK

After the first hypnotic two minutes, arrives to our ears the majestic and powerful "The First Fire", a piece full of heavy riffs but still nostalgic between drums that break through soaring sonic landscapes. Like other reviewers, I feel a lack of constant structures, but the mix of surprising moments of calm and explosions of epic guitar riffs and drums it's really captivating.

The formula built on three guitars and a solid base of drums and bass, repeats into the other songs of the album but always with different textures. "Barren Lands of the Modern Dinosaur" sounds like an awsome fusion of Red Sparowes and EITS best moments, but still with the original imprint of ITTCT. Same with "They Speak with Knives" a five minutes piece that removes your emotions with lots of interesting moments built on amazing walls of sound. Another 5 stars moment comes with "Red Forest", a very obscure post-rock jewel based on a repetive guitar riff surrounded by heavy but still floating atmospheres.

The "grand finale" comes with "When the Big Hand Buries the Twelve", an almost 10 minutes piece a little bit repetitive but with more great epic and inspired instrumental sections.

Beside the deployment of rich textures we find five very talented musicians who are capable to take your emotions and squeeze it almost every minute of this brilliant álbum. At least to me, it's a must have!

This is post-rock. The formula is basically the same: lots of ambiance, soaring atmospheres, a lack of real structure; but, rather, more of a constant progression or movement to the music. Overall, a type of music that focuses on textures and feelings, rather than on power and structure. There are few post-rock bands that really gain my interest more than If These Trees Could Talk. Their sophomore album, "Red Forest", showcases the one aspect of their music that is different than other post-rock bands: the technical prowess of which this band is capable.

I was floored, really. The incredibly delicate, yet technical drums; the soaring, blistering lead guitar; the dynamic bass; and the mood-inducing rhythms all come together to form an album that catches your interest and doesn't let go. "Barren Lands of the Modern Dinosaur", for example, blows us away with amazing texture, but also with difficult soloing that somehow works its way into the post-rock style without compromising it. Again and again, this album wowed me. These guys have confidence in a sub-genre that usually lacks it.

It's more than that, though. "Red Forest" is capable of messing with your emotions, elating and deflating you at its whim. Depression one minute, hope the next. This type of masterful control is something I look for in the texture-driven style of post-rock, and many bands simply lack the finesse and expertise of If These Trees Could Talk. This must be heard by all post-rock fans.

There were 2 things that got me hooked on to If These Trees Could Talk: - the first was the name of the band: i could be an album or a song but was quite an unusual name for the band itself! - "When The Big Hand Buries The Twelve": with a haunting visual backdrop on Youtube (the best source for discovering new music, if you ask me!); from 5:00 to the end is one of the most interesting sequences i've heard...

The guys do a lot of things right in "Red Forest": - stay away from long, meandering "ambience" sequences. most post-rock bands tend to overplay this as an essential part of the genre but I just think its lazy... - a good balance of heavy and soft passages - a variety of sounds, all linked to a strong core theme

the last 26-27 minutes of this album, from "Red Forest" through "When The Big Hand Buries The Twelve" is simply amazing. the band doesn't let down even for a bit and produce some of the best playing and composing they've done so far.

in summary: a big improvement over their previous work, leaves me waiting for their next.

This Ep starts with Malabar Fronts, and from the beggining ITTCT show you what it's all about. This is a heavy song, guitar driven, good drums and intense. Maybe that's the word than can sintetize all: intense.

Smoke Stacks continues with the formula low-heavy, the whole album follows this forumla by the way, but somehow it's not so obvious. And ITTCT does not build up the songs slowly, they just smash you. This song is quite interesting leaded by an arpeggio and a guitar with ebow i think.

The Friscalating Dusklight it's preety much the same, but different. This song has it's own special touch. the bridge it´s the most amazing part, makes me feel anxious.

Well, that was what i call the first part. Formula, heavyness, intesity. the 3 songs left are the same but better, it's like an improved band.

Signal tree is the best song of the ep, has an amazin rythm and the drums are really cool, specially the part of the redoubling in drums, it adds a special flavor. This time the drums lead the song.

The death of Paradigm it's the second best song on this ep. There is a leitmotif that goes all over the song, i can say it's a typical post rock motif but this is slightly different. Has it's own beauty and it's well complemented with the other instruments. The reason this is not the best song on the ep is that ITTCT seems to have no idea how to improve this song, they're lack of ideas it's negative for the song. This could be a lot much better.

41°4'23n, -81°31'4w suffer lack of ideas from the band. this also could be a better song. But still rocks.

Finally i have to say that ITTCT put the rock on post rock and with 3 great song of 6, it makes a sure 3 stars.

Post-rock seems to be flooding the music world these days. Arguably developing from TALK TALK's 1991 album, Laughing Stock, the genre dubbed "post-rock" seems to be ever-growing in popularity. Often characterized by wailing high-pitched guitars, gargantuan crescendos, three-part guitar harmonies, and raw emotion, post-rock has become an easy way for young musicians to achieve success while retaining the depth found in prog. Unfortunately this formula has found itself being painfully overused in recent years. The originators such as MOGWAI and GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR have been repeatedly mimicked and sadly, the once fresh genre of post-rock is growing dull.

Despite all this, I still find myself enjoying the stereotypical post-rock sound very much. The reflective mood suits me very well during early, dark mornings when my Art History class just happens to be canceled and I have two hours to kill. It's times like this when I like to lay back in my car and just let the music take over. Post-rock is like being engulfed in an aura of melancholia. There's an uncanny awareness of space, almost like your listening to the absence of music - a vibration instead of a sound. It churns your insides and tugs at your emotions like little other music can.

During the dark season of winter I tend to fall into a very pensive state of mind. It's only natural that I would want to acquire some more post-rock to compliment my mood. But I've already heard everything, GODSPEED, MONO, EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY, MOGWAI, etc. What else is there, right? Well, my TERA MELOS-loving mate also happens to be an expert on the genre.

"Yo John, recommend me some post-rock!" "If These Trees Could Talk" "They good?" "I heard Malabar Front once and bought the CD, they're good"

So I quickly got a hold of their self-titled EP and gave it a couple listens. First reaction went something like "Hmm I like the nice guitar intro, oh wait wrong song". Don't you hate it when you accidentally play a CD in the wrong order the first time? Who wants to be spoiled by track 2 when they haven't even heard track 1 yet!

Anyway, upon my first listen I liked the band. They clearly held every aspect you would expect from the genre, but there were a couple of things that stood out to me. First of all, there were none of the unnecessarily long clean guitar build ups that take up nearly half a MONO or EITS album. While EITS seem to build up their songs for an unbearably long period of time, IF THESE TREES COULD TALK take only the time required before rocking out. There are no slow, drawn out sections that end up leading to nowhere on this disc.

The second thing I noticed was how much heavier this band was than what I usually have come to expect. I'd consider them post-metal if it weren't for the tasteful harmonized pieces they have to offer. Take for example, "Smoke Stacks", the tranquil opening isn't something you'd expect from say, PELICAN or GIANT SQUID. A good amount of pulsing riffs still occupy the album though, not to mention the heart-wrenching crescendos. Oh this album does stir my emotions.

On the down side, everything is hopelessly derivative. It's like they took all the best aspects of the most notable bands in post-rock and threw them in a blender to create their sound. So, there's nothing new or original here at all. Don't expect to travel and ground the hasn't already been covered by the other bands I mentioned above.

Another thing one might notice is the similarity between every song. After "Malabar Front" one can pretty much guess what's to come for the duration of the album. The strong moments are all there, it's just it all sounds too similar for anything to truly stand out.

Don't take this as a negative review though. In a slowly dying genre of music, IF THESE TREES COULD TALK demonstrate considerable potential to become one of its leading contributors. For one expecting something a fresh taste of ideas out of this album, he will find disappointment. However, anyone just looking for another decent album to add to their post-rock collection, IF THESE TREES COULD TALK will do just fine.

My rating: 7/10