Before I get started on my track review, I’d like to say that this reviewer would have loved to review the entire Church Of Trees album, “Pish Posh”, but seeing as I’ve contributed to one of the tracks on the album, I feel it may represent a conflict of interest, so I’ve chosen a track to review that is possibly my favorite one. Luckily for me, it appears twice on the album in different versions. I will start with my favorite, the “Rob Preuss Mesmerace mix” of the track. This track starts with a few seconds of ambience before hooking you in with (the now-official Church of Trees) singer Stella Panacci’s “la la la’s”, catching your ear with their fairy-tale sweetness, and you’re barely given a moment to breathe before the first verse and the incredibly catchy back beat kick in - you will find yourself scrambling for the lyric sheet so you can sing along like I did. Everything in this mix of the song is equal parts shiny and infectious, bubbling joy through all sonic frequencies. Like most of us during the past couple years with the pandemic and intense isolation and division, even amongst friends and family, this sweetness is so very welcome... it reminds me, like the song says - that we need to live/love/dream “just a little more” because it’s never been more apparent how much we all NEED to.

If I were to complain at all about this song, it would be about the fact that it ends after four minutes or so - but lucky for us, there is another mix of the song on the album - the original mix by Jordon Zadorozny. The original mix of the song is definitely more “album oriented”, for lack of a better term - it takes a little more while before letting you know how catchy it is, as if downplaying itself with a sense of knowing pride. Jordon’s mix on the track relates to Pish Posh as a whole very well, as can be said of how it relates to the overall sound of Church Of Trees. As someone that has come to be a fan, all my favorite COT elements are here in the songwriting and production.

I can see why there are two versions on the album, and I personally would not be able to decide which of these would be best to place on it. In contrast, I would choose Rob’s mix to introduce newer, and perhaps younger listeners to the band - though they both say what needs to be said equally well. I am thankful to hear, in a recent interview with Church Of Trees' mastermind, Bernard Frazer, that he is “always writing” (indeed, the band is prolific - and seems to be increasingly so), because I’m confident that once you’ve been converted to this particular church, you’re going to need a little more - in fact, MUCH more.

You can check out the full Church of Trees album on their Bandcamp page.

-D.D. Danahy for PerturbRadio

Vague Notion have returned with another dynamic and masterful single, the appropriately-named “Ungulate”, that is on fire in more ways than one. 

The song’s lyrics and music  (as well as the accompanying music video) play both openly and implicitly with themes associated with fire, heat, smoke, smoky air (even words themselves as a smoking gun), and the reactions they may trigger - anger, fear, confusion…  in short, the “fight or flight” reaction that this reviewer himself associates with both fire and smoke. 
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The burning world presented in the track not only focuses on our forests, but on our interactions with our fellow humans. These interactions have become increasingly heated - this being the “fight” part of the reaction. Anger being like a fire in our minds burning so hot that it goes directly to our mouths rather than through our hearts first, and it’s one of our most valuable resources - EACH OTHER - that gets burned, only adding to the fire. 

Rhythmically speaking, the first thought that came to my mind was 'how does one describe Forest rhythms VS Jungle rhythms?' I believe that these self-professed makers of “Deep Mountain Electronica” have woven a track with lots of active, frantic, scurrying noises moving through the stereo field, creating the illusion of being in the middle of a sort of electronic grove of Pine trees. Some of the rhythms even evoke the hooves of a very scared animal fleeing through this burning forest. 

Cheryl’s voice and the unique way it blends with their particular sound (I see a future one day where synths will come with a Vague Notion bass preset or two) takes on several characters throughout this virtual forest, those above, below, all around you…and reminds us at many times that we are animals in this forest also - ones that lives parallel and superimposed on our world, whether it be surrounded by trees, buildings, or the mixture of both most of us live in. Instruments take on animalistic tendencies in the music, at times even threatening and feral, from what I am guessing is Bevan’s distorted guitar growl -  unless they managed to find an electric bear and added it to the mix. It seems to manage to get the last word on the song, too.  

Of all the personnas in this song, one of the most dominant is our sun. Portrayed here almost as a double-edged sword, it makes life on earth possible, yet as the climate rises, sets the stage for this raging character that is not only “burning up the life” but is also the “taker and leaver of strife”, setting at the end of the music video, bookending its rise at the beginning. It’s as if to remind us that we can still find hope in music and celebration in spite of difficult times. To once again quote the lyrics, “you may as well lighten up and dance” and I, for one, wholeheartedly agree. 


 - D.D.Danahy for PerturbRadio