Rock

King Tree & The Roots EP 2009

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Debut EP from Manchester band Kin Tree & The Rots recorded by Jon Fearon rom The Longcut.

www.myspace.com/kingtreeandtheroots

From the opening gambit of crashing drums and rumbling bass – augmented by taut guitars – this five-track EP from King Tree & the Roots immediately carries a sense of urgency. Hailing from Manchester, the quintet have recently supported local brethren the Longcut and appear destined to emerge from the city behind a plume of dry ice and a cavalcade of nerdish specs.

The songs gathered here are highly melodic with a definite hint of darkness, at times being reminiscent of the Psychedelic Furs as well as Echo and the Bunnymen. The title track is moodily atmospheric and barely suppresses a bristling fervour. Totally wired, it even recalls the Fall and carefully negotiates the tightrope between melodicism and a vibrant intensity.

There’s a strange alchemy at the heart of their songs which manages to combine droll post-punk with gruff blues and a tantalisingly melodic pop sensibility, with all three seemingly colliding on ‘Hooked’, which delves into arch angularity as well as being a resolutely bouncy proto-anthem.

‘Trick or Treat’ could easily be an Interpol outtake, appealingly dense and with a swirling melancholia apparent, underscored by Trevor Pattinson’s vocals which approach a suitably brooding baritone on this sumptuous track.

Confounding expectations at each turn, King Tree & the Roots experiment with stylistic shifts as well as changes in pace, and closing track ‘Blue Heart’ – with its near-whispered vocals and gently strummed guitar – could almost be a sweetly modern folk-pop song if it wasn’t for the ringing electric guitar and slightly over-enthusiastic bass.

Hooked is a delightfully promising EP and suggests that the five-piece have plenty of potential which will hopefully be mined on future releases, and with the help of more incisive production. It may be grim up north but who would complain when it sounds this gleefully downbeat? - Simon Harper (Bearded Magzine)

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