Tallest Trees - Ostrich or the Lark

Record Label: other-electricities

  Release Date: 17/8/2010 (original source: soundblab)

Tallest Trees are a duo, consisting of Thomas 'Trees' Samuel and Dabney 'Voice' Morris who reign from Nashville, Tennessee; the birthplace of rock and roll. Such luminaries as Elvis Presley and Hank Williams Sr. came from this musical hot-bed. However, if 'Jail House Rock' is what you are expecting, you would be closer if you imagine further west, to Roswell, the place where a UFO supposedly crash-landed in 1947, because it is quite alien. Their music does not come from any particular traditional music genre; you could say it is a malaise of guitar music and keyboard music of the eighties.

Lead singer, Dabney Morris, has such a listenable singing voice that it is a shame it is not heard more often on the album. A 50/50 mix of instrumental to voice would have been more welcome to me but I have always been attracted to bands with great singers. Those of you who are more interested in the instrumental sound of music will probably love Ostrich or the Lark. Nevertheless, it can be an enjoyable album for most.

I must say, 'Skinny Little Wrists' is my favourite track on the whole album. It really makes use of Dabney Morris' voice and its harmonies and enchanting lyrics tempt you to look towards the skies and ponder the delights of music. Maybe it is more of what I and most of us are used to so we cannot blame Tallest Trees from seemingly experimenting with a lot of their album. You could say that the majority of the Ostrich or the Lark record is a proposition to music lovers, asking, 'have you ever thought about the possibility of this?'

Considering Tallest Trees' experimental character, it might only be possible to fully appreciate their inventiveness by seeing them live. From seeing the video for their track, 'Learn', you see how they put on a visual display and obviously that will not come across the same when you are only listening. It does tell us though that Tallest Trees are trying to create wonderful, colourful images in our head when we listen to their music and if you open your heart and ears and give Ostrich or the Lark time, you will see those wonderful colours.