A musical trip through emotional and spatial labyrinths and imaginary worlds
This was a promising gig with Red Sun Revival, And Also The Trees and Eden House sharing the stage of O2 Academy Islington. Even though I was too late and didn’t see the whole show of Red Sun Revival, I have recently listened to the band supporting Diary of Dreams at The Purple Turtle club and I must admit that I like them a lot. This is a promising band which focuses on traditional gothic music in terms of aesthetics and vocals. The electric violin, which is an instrument not commonly used in gothic music, is a very welcome addition and enriches the sound of the band while making it unique.
…when I came to your house there was noone around so I went to your room…
It’s been five 
years since I last saw And Also The Trees live at the Luminaire in Kilburn. That was a more intimate concert since the space was more theatrical than O2 Academy Islington and the band didn’t have to perform between groups which were completely incompatible in terms of aesthetics and music genre.
Nevertheless, And Also The Trees are excellent musical narrators and have the unique capacity to make the audience focus solely on their music and transfer us magically to the worlds of their songs; and everybody was ready and in the mood for such musical and spiritual trips. I found myself wanting to draw sketches for each song, as the lyrics stimulated my imagination!
The gate
Swings below
Daisies blow through my head
And the tide glimmers low
Grey as lead…
Respecting the already announced stage times, And Also the Trees appeared on stage at 19.25 performing ‘Rip Ridge’ from their last album ‘Hunter Not the Hunted’ and warming up the atmosphere. The next song ‘Maps in Her Wrists And Arms’, made a leap in the history of the band to their third album ‘Virus Meadow’.A mesmerising version of ‘He walked through the dew’ followed by a passionate performance of ‘The legend of Mucklow’, were fitted for another space and created moments of suspense between the old and the new songs of the band. What a variety of musical styles has this band embraced over the years! The musical narrators continued our promenade to their albums ‘Virus Meadow’, ‘Green is the Sea’ and ‘Hunter Not The Hunted’ with ‘Slow Pulse Boy’, ‘Mermen Of The Lea’ and ‘Angel Devil Man And Beast’. The whole evening I was waiting for the next song and as the first distinct and recognisable notes of ‘Dialogue’ made the introduction I was feeling overwhelmed. ‘The Knave’ which followed made a very strange but correct stylistical connection with the previous song. This is one of my favourite tracks from their last album and it was performed as craftily as it sounds on the cd.
The official program ended with the magical ‘A Room Lives In Lucy’ and ‘Rite Droite’
…And in the sunlight I feel the room grow
Windows, white curtained and smooth walls
But the night leaves her on the floors
Of a mansion hall…
There was no doubt that the audience would ask for the band to reappear on stage since the applause lasted more than expected after every single song. This was not only noticed but also greatly appreciated from the band.
The encore included ‘Missing’ and an unforgettable dynamic performance of ‘Virus Meadow’. This last song was resuscitated from 1986 promising to haunt the rest of our days and wiping away any desire to listen to any more music that night!
Some additional thoughts…
While enjoying the dynamic performance of Simon and the dexterous playing of Justin I realised how much I missed the live performances of And Also the Trees. Justin
has this inexplicable capacity of making the guitar sound like a ‘crying’ bouzouki and this is a quality that transverses all the band’s work. In the moments between songs I found myself thinking that the band started in 1979 they have always been consisted and they have always retained very high standards in terms of quality. The live performance of Simon Huw Jones is very interesting stylistically and very emotional without losing quality and dynamism. AATT is a band which shows humbleness and has a unique way of communicating with the audience during the concert.
Finally even though the sound engineer did a very good job throughout the concert, the sound of the electric hammered dulcimer and of the melodica was not good. As a result the sound of these two instruments was blurred and I had to make a great effort to listen to it.
The reasons that I chose to stay at the venue for the next band, had mainly to do with curiosity and the fact that I met two close friends of mine. The sound was very bad, making the vocals and all the instruments equally very loud. As a result the melody and the vocal characteristics of the two female singers, were completely lost. If there was a chance for me to like The Eden House, this was lost somewhere between the honest and sincere performance of And Also The Trees and the bad choices of the sound engineer.
In terms of merchandise all the bands had their cds available for purchase in very good prices. I was disappointed to see that And Also The Trees had printed some unique photos only on male t-shirts so I didn’t have the chance to buy one and as I later realised these t-shirts with these specific photos printed on them, are not part of the official band’s merchandise according to their website. But all these are just details.So until the next live performance or the next release of And Also The Trees…
Blaue Rosen 