Treetop Flyers – To Bury the Past
I don’t really know what to say about this. It is very derivative, particularly opener Mountain Song, which sounds like a Neil Young cover, but I still really like this EP so somehow that doesn’t seem to matter. I may never be blown away by this kind of thing, but I definitely do still think they’ve produced a really enjoyable record here.
I am not sure if it’s just that the songs are friendly and quietly infectious, or that there is a lovely warmth to the production, but for some reason it works for me. It may be mining the same seam as the Fleet Foxes and countless other bands, albeit with a bit more guitar, and in many ways it really doesn’t add much in terms of progressing the genres on which it touches, but that’s not really how we listen to music, is it.
Basically we decide if we like something first and foremost in an instinctive manner, and then we make up reasons for it afterwards. This stuff, I just kinda enjoy. I like it. It sits well with me. I can hear all the reasons why I might dislike it, but they just don’t make that much impression – it just has a degree of completeness and internal consistency which gives the music a solid presence.
Consequently it’s the kind of EP I find myself turning to a lot and playing more than a lot of other things for which I could think of more obvious plaudits. Is it All Worth It? is lovely, with the tiny bit of vocal harmony on the chorus the icing on the cake. Mountain Song has really good pace and purpose, and Old Days is slow and melancholy. It may not be spectacular exactly, but it works, and I’m enjoying it. I look forward to more.
Treetop Flyers – Mountain Song
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So what, do you think they’ve been listening to Fleetwood Mac and Pink Floyd too much?
No it was quite good… But I get the feeling that it’s all been done before and they’re not breaking/trying to break any new ground…
…from what I’ve heard, that is.
Yeah, I think I agree with you actually. I still quite like it though, despite that.
Is this a recent release?
That album cover looks like it’s been hiding in my dad’s record collection for 30 years.
And for that reason, I LOVE IT
It sounds pretty much like that as well.
Sounds great to me. A bit like a Neil Young impersonator at times, but there are certainly worse people one could imitate. A good tune is a good tune, whether it reinvents the wheel or not. I’ll be buying this one.
yeah, pretty much all music is derivative. This is just a little more so than most. I like this EP too.
I suppose it depends on how many people you ‘take inspiration from’ at once. One or two people at once and it will look a bit obvious, whereas spread it around a bit more and no-one notices much.
As the old quote goes: “Steal from one person and it’s called plagiarism. Steal from many people and it’s called research.”
Steal from everyone and it’s called a Quentin Tarantino film.
Ba-dum-TSSSHH!