Quantcast

Call for Papers: PopMatters Celebrates The Jam in Massive Special Section

Music
cover art

Delay Trees

Delay Trees

(Johanna Kustannus; US: 29 Sep 2010; UK: 29 Sep 2010)

Delay Trees aren’t afraid to go big—we’re talking U2 big. Guitars shimmer and stretch, cymbals ripple outward, vocals echo just enough to give them some size. It’s an ambitious sound they crank out on their debut full-length, but it’s also a welcoming, approachable sound. Where the Edge keeps you at a distance with his sonic wall, these guys welcome you in. There’s space in these songs to feel them out, pull at their pieces and find deep melodies. The slow build of opener “Cold” eases us into this cool, glittering soundscape before “Cassette 2012” cuts through the atmosphere with a leaner chug. From there, the album moves through its dreamy songs at a deliberate pace. Nothing on the record feels rushed. Each swell of sound is given its time and space to fully grow. It all builds to the wonderfully tense closer “4:45”, which keeps you waiting for the band to break into theatric crashing. They never do. Instead, they churn on with their dream-pop sound. It may rely a bit too heavily on mid-tempo—there’s not a lot of pace-changers after “Cassette 2012”—but there is a subtle vitality to this sound that keeps it from going stale. It’s not easy to be both immediate and hazy, but Delay Trees combine the two poles nicely here.

Rating:

Tagged as: delay trees
Media
Comments
Now on PopMatters
  1. The Top 10 Overplayed Songs You Hate by Artists You Love (Sound Affects)
  2. Tea with 'Sherlock': Investigating the Investigators (Features)
  3. Sunk? This 'Battleship' Stunk! (Short Ends and Leader)
  4. Tenacious D: Rize of the Fenix (Reviews)
  5. Top Ten Lost Midwest Punk Singles (Sound Affects)
  6. 10 Pieces of Cinematic Art That Require Revisiting (Short Ends and Leader)
  7. Like 'Doom', In Heels (Moving Pixels)
  8. Punk Rock's Pet Sounds: An Interview with Bomb the Music Industry! (Features)
  9. She's a Rainbow: A Tribute to Donna Summer (Features)
  10. Counterbalance No. 82: U2's 'Achtung Baby' (Sound Affects)
  11. 'Albatross': A Not-So-Weighty Coming-of-Age Meets Mid-Life-Crisis Film (Reviews)
  12. Counterbalance No. 83: The Stooges' 'Fun House' (Sound Affects)
  13. We Will Avenge Them Or… Be Avenged?: The Individual in the US Experience (Features)
  14. The Queen and Her Crayons: An Interview With Donna Summer (Features)
  15. The Best Canadian Records of the Year? The Fun Agony of Voting for the Polaris Prize Long List (Sound Affects)
  16. Flash Points: Mommy's Breast, Marriage Equality and Why Chipotle Is King (Features)
  17. Sergio Leone: Something to Do with Death (Columns)
  18. Killer Mike: R.A.P. Music (Reviews)
  19. Sherlock Holmes, Dirk Gently and the Case of the Eccentric Detective (Columns)
  20. Early Summer 2012 New Music Playlist (Mixed Media)
  21. In Support of Supports (Moving Pixels)
  22. Flash Points: Chicks, Sluts and Facebook (Features)
  23. In Defense Of... Rock Radio: A Force in Popular Culture (Columns)
  24. The Cult: Choice of Weapon (Reviews)
  25. Garbage: Not Your Kind of People (Reviews)
  26. Willie Nelson: Heroes (Reviews)
  27. 'People's Pornography': The Mundanities of Pornography and Surveillance Culture (Reviews)
  28. Feeling '80s Spirit: Post-Hardcore Punk for the Plastic Generation (Columns)
  29. Like a Jack London Story on Steroids: 'The Grey' (Reviews)
  30. Saint Etienne: Words and Music (Reviews)
PM Picks
Music Archive
Announcements

© 1999-2012 PopMatters.com. All rights reserved.
PopMatters.com™ and PopMatters™ are trademarks
of PopMatters Media, Inc.

PopMatters is wholly independently owned and operated.
PopMatters is a member of BUZZMEDIA Music, MOG and Guardian Select.