Album Review: The Smoking Trees The Adventure Continues
Los Angeles based The Smoking Trees latest album The Adventure Continues… moves forward into soothing sounds and pop-psych dreaminess. The task of having to work the night shift at Disneyland in charge of sound at Tomorrowland and Frontierland sounds like a tough job for multi-instrumentalist/producer Martin Nuñez (aka Sir Psych), and on The Adventure Continues…, the magical landscapes carry on.
Like a lost track from a Nuggets or Pebbles comp, album opener “Who Is the Villain” kicks things off with a mellow groove, transmitting the lysergic sounds of the 60s. Sounding like locals at London’s UFO Club, the first track is a proper introduction for what’s in store for the rest of the album— baroque instrumentation, 60s vibrations, steady beats and chill vibes.
The magic mushrooms really kick in on “Honestly, I Wish That I Knew”—backwards tracks, strings, spooky orchestration and a steady drum beat that is sample ready for hip-hop even. This will happen often throughout the album where you’ll hear drums with a slight hip-hop feel to it, a la Cornershop.
The baroque sounds of The Smoking Trees really flourish on “Skip Softly Through the Fast Life” as the music shifts and sways through hazy reverb and spacey vocals. Keeping the same vibe, with a mellow but heavy feel, the kaleidoscopic visions and colors continue on “Psychedelic Sunset,” its dominating bass riff matched by the pulsating drum beat.
Album stand out is the beautiful “Dear Sun”—harmonies drenched in echo, playful percussion and interstellar instrumentation, this track carries a lot of weight with the heavy emotion it harbors. It demands repeat spins without saying.
Although the album wears its 60s influences heavily, it’s hard not to notice those 90s sounds seeping in. The song “More Than Friends” slow psych pace recalls something like Spiritualized’s sound and “We Can Be Born” could be something off of The Stone Roses’ Second Coming.
The Adventure Continues… stays on the right track and takes you on a journey into a modern take on the 60s sounds of folk, pop-psych and experimentation, re-imagined and done right.
Album available on Record and Cassette through Burger Records.
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