AND ALSO THE TREES

AND ALSO THE TREES

Formed in 1979 by the brothers Simon and Justin Jones and Graham and Nicholas Havas in a small village in Worcestershire, England and  inspired by the ideology of a still-developing post-punk movement, And  Also The Trees from their very beginnings were different. Unlike more  urban contemporaries such as PIL, Joy Division and The Gang Of Four, And  Also The Trees were influenced almost exclusively by the landscape and  history of the rural environment that surrounded them – an influence  that has remained throughout their entire existence to this day.

Learning to play their instruments as they composed, their first  recordings were raw and naive but powerful and original enough to  attract the attention of The Cure who invited them to tour with them,  (in 1980, 81 and 84) and who produced their self-released mini album  ‘From under the hill’ (Robert Smith) and their first, self-titled, full  album (Lol Tolhurst), released in 1983.

The album caught the attention of John Peel for whom they recorded a session in 1984.

Those recordings reflected their early, post-punk roots, but it was  with 1986’s Virus Meadow – an album of rich, pagan melancholy and  disturbing laments – and the resulting European tours, that And Also The  Trees truly found their own identity. Their fans became enraptured by  the dramatic, poetic nature of their work.

Subsequent albums The Millpond Years (1988), Farewell To The Shade  (1989) and Green Is The Sea (1992) continued in this rich, creative, and  influential vein elevating And Also The Trees to an almost mythical  status particularly in France but also Germany, Belgium and Switzerland  where their audiences have always shown great loyalty. They were also  the gateway to transatlantic audiences for the first time via a highly  successful US tour in 1991.

The release of The Klaxon in 1993  saw the beginning of a new chapter  for And Also The Trees. The esoteric, rural influences were replaced by  a 50’s beat-group feel, still challenging and lyrical but somehow more  urbane. The twanging guitars, Morricone trumpets and growling organs  punctuating a trilogy of releases including Angelfish (1996) and Silver  Soul (1998).

1998 to 2003 was a period of change and contemplation. The band moved  away from their Worcestershire roots and became geographically  separated.

Further From The Truth (2003) is something of a rebirth that  developed into a true renaissance with their Tenth album ‘(listen for)  The Rag and Bone Man’ which came out in November (2007) and received  some of the best critical reviews of the band’s existence.

In June 2009 they released ‘When The Rains Come’, an acoustic album  of songs from throughout their history stripped down to the bare bones  and presented with remarkable poise and simplicity. A measure of the  album’s success and the band’s re-emergence was reflected not only by  the positive press but in their first full tour of France for 15 years  and some prestigious shows in Germany including a memorable performance  in Berlin’s Temporary kunsthalle as part of internationally renown  visual artist John Bock’s extraordinary curation.

‘Hunter not the hunted’ (2012) continued their compelling evolution  with a work which returned to nature for inspiration and was the  catalyst for invitations to play in countries new to the band: the  Ukraine, Romania, Lithuania and Japan with two concerts in Tokyo.  They  were again asked by John Bock to open an exhibition, on this occasion  the prestigious  ‘Donau festival of contemporary art’ in Krems, Austria,  and their old relationship with The Cure was revived when Robert Smith  invited them as special guest for three shows at the London Hammersmith  Apollo in December 2014.

‘Born into the waves’, their thirteenth studio album revolves around  guitar pieces that were written as ‘love songs from around the world’.  It takes influence from their recent travels east and explores the  diversities of love as both an emotion and an opposing power to hate.

It is a work that has moments of passion and great subtlety, in  short, it is a classic ‘And also the trees’ album. As journalist and  biographer Alexandre Francois, who is currently writing a book about And  Also The Trees, put it, ”It’s not the fact that they have been in  existence and making records (on their terms) for over 30 years that  makes then extraordinary, what makes them different is the discovery  that their most recent works are masterpieces”.