A while back I received an email from a band called Let's Talk About Trees, asking me to have a listen to a couple of their songs and possibly do a wee something about them for Aye Tunes. I listened to the songs, loved them, then waited around three months to answer the email. I am not a good blogger.
On the eve of the release of their self titled debut album I finally got around to asking Let's Talk About Trees some questions, which they kindly took time out of hand making those albums to answer.
Who are Let's Talk About Trees?
We are Chris McGarry and Kieran Heather - two men from many bands with a particular fondness for the ridiculous.
What do you sound like?
We WANTED to sound like trees, but I suppose Magnetic Fields, Adam Green and the Beta Band is somewhere to start. Bit of Arab Strap as well.
How did the album come about?
Well, we were in the pub (Captain's Rest, to be precise) and were discussing trees for some reason and we'd been recording music just for fun - thought that trees and music might mix. They did! I suppose it was a bet, but no money has passed hands and in any case if we were betting against each other - we both won.
Are making concept albums after a pub bet the future of the music industry then?
I think the way we do things is made easier by having a concept - we're big fans of Brian Eno and he's well into this kind of voodoo. He made that thing Oblique Strategies, didn't he? Heloves concepts. At least I hope he does, I don't know the man and I don't want to make too many assumptions on his part. Anyway, the answer is probably no.
The album launch is coming up soon, what do you have planned for it, or is it a surprise?
I think the surprise is going to be that it actually happened - a lot of our friends are very angry that we're going ahead with it. It's a very cheeky thing to do - make a silly bet in the pub, have a laugh: "hur hur, we're gonna make an album about trees", then show up one day with CDs filled with songs that are actually about trees - people don't expect you to actually do it. When they see the show it'll be the final straw and we will be lynched.
Any plans to talk about more trees in the future, or perhaps other subjects, or is this a one off?
I think the awareness we have raised with this record will suffice. We do genuinely like trees but you'd really have to try to make a career out of it. Instead, we're hopefully going to move on to make a meta-educational album in the spirit of Look Around You (LOOK IT UP!) (Jim: Look Around You is excellent, if you've never seen it you really should try to watch it) - a television series we did not know about until we made the music video for Lumberjack's Lament and somebody commented on it giving reference to the aforementioned television program which I am clearly not going to repeat the name of. It's a pretty marvelous show.
All I can tell you about it is that we will try to break down the taboos of racism, highlight the dangers of (certain) drugs and that there might be a 'bubble moon octopus' involved. The octopus used to be a knight in Malaysia, apparently.
Let's Talk About Trees release their self titled album with a launch gig at Stereo in Glasgow tomorrow night (that's Saturday 20th November). It is a late starter, with doors at 11pm.
You can watch the lovely video for Lumberjack's Lament down below, and to hear an interview with the band and download a couple of session tracks head over to Pop Goes The Revolution.
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