Austin Sound

Through The Trees’ debut, Dig It Up, is a startlingly audacious ten-song career-opening salvo fired right across the bow. After taking stock of their influences and history – Ben McCormack (vocals/guitars/piano/etc) and Will Tanner (bass/percussion) played together in The Stags, McCormack in a variety of bands ranging from jam to garage band, Rob Jasinski drummed for the long departed garage and hip shaking The Good Looks – Dig It Up is even more disarming. Given where the trio came from, the resulting alt rock as played by late 70s classic rock fans isn’t completely surprising, but it seems refreshingly welcome. Pile on the fact that the band was practically born in the stale beer afternoons at the Hole in the Wall – Tanner owns it, McCormack books it, and Jasinski owns Cream Vintage next door – and one might expect an album of shambling, sloppy burners. Instead, Through The Trees wind up generally soaring through some fifty minutes of majestic rock and roll.

Despite owing some pretty hefty debt to both Hole and The Strokes, the opening tracks – “Hearse” and “Vampire” – don’t come across as derivative. In fact, even though the songs sound so immediately familiar, repeated spins don’t appear to explain why or how Through The Trees seem to own that familiarity perfectly. As strong as “Hearse” and “Vampire “are, they are two of the three shortest songs on Dig It Up and the real fun doesn’t begin until the band stretches out. A fifth of the way through “Anchor,” Through The Trees get absolutely filthy. That first fifth sounds like a murky afternoon hangover… and then Jasinski opens up the engines, McCormack starts shredding, and the band never slows down again. There’s absolutely no way to accurately describe McCormack playing guitar hero on “Anchor.” Maybe this is what it sounds like when grownups aren’t chasing trends, fans, and industry contacts and instead just make the music in their heads.

“Anchor” might be the sonic highlight of the album, but it’s not like the subsequent seven songs are duds. In fact, with the exception of “Victim” – the other shorty on the album – Through The Trees don’t really drop a clunker at any point. On “Birds”, “Suburbs” and “Dig” – the final three tracks of the album – the band gets lengthy without getting long. All three songs clock in at over seven minutes, but each song feels like a mini rock opera complete with more than the standard verse-chorus changes. And somehow, maybe because Through The Trees never seem to abandon their surroundings – presumably a small dark Austin bar reverberating with the ghosts of decades past – it never feels indulgent, forced, or completely over the top. Even as “Suburbs” decays into a minutes long coda worthy of The Afghan Whigs, it just sounds like the cigarette smoke and guitars of bands long gone oozing out of the walls and into Through The Trees’ canon.

It’s been a long and winding road for these three guys. From past bands to independent businesses that take more energy and soul than the average nine-to-fiver, Through The Trees have paid their dues. Congratulations – and thanks — are in order for creating a great record as part time musicians hustling between all their other responsibilities.

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