Following 2009’s rather triumphant release, ‘Moving Crosscurrent of Time’, The Morningside have surfaced once again with a rather unusual beast. A concept EP, based around a reworking of one of their older tracks, in three parts, that comes in at just over three quarters of an hour in length. Fair enough chaps, you have my attention…
After some vehement checking, I did finally establish that this was an EP rather than a full album, given the confusing title and the fact that it comes in at the length of an average one and half Slayer albums, or if you look at it another way, one Pombagira song, but anyway… It’s quite clear that The Morningside have something of a soft spot for trees, and Treelogia builds upon the reverence first suggested on 2007’s ‘The Wind, The Trees and the Shadows of the Past’. The EP is basically a reworking, and indeed an elaboration of the original track ‘The Trees’ from that debut album. Building off of an extended keyboard driven intro, these guys are definitely not ones to rush things, letting the atmosphere build for a good 4 minutes before we are given even a sniff of a song. There are unquestionably positive comparisons to be drawn with Agalloch here, in the way that something so long and drawn out can continue to hold the interest, and in fact mesmerise, just in setting a mood. Once the song begins at around the four and a half minute mark, you cannot help but feel relaxed and in tune with the music, which can be best described as positive melancholy. The guitars of Sergey Chelyadinov and Igor Nitkin tell stories of their own with the melodies, with that Paradise Lost / Katatonia style sound that serves this style and pace of music so well. The lead guitar almost seems to be singing a backing vocal to Nitkin’s coarse rasp which has much in common with Enslaved’s Grutle Kjellson.
As you would expect with a concept piece like this, the transition between Parts 1&2 of ‘The Trees’ is pretty much seamless, just a feeling of moving into the next phase. Some of the guitar leads on here are quite frankly, achingly beautiful, which whilst not in the same technical league as Steve Vai or Dave Gilmour, manage to conjure up the same emotions in me as when I listen to ‘Comfortably Numb’ or ‘For The Love Of God’. Quite how they manage to achieve this given that in comparison to the two artists above, this is very simplistic, it’s quite astonishing and worthy of the highest praise. I don’t know, maybe it’s just me being a great big soft git. The third part of this three part tale is so large, that it itself has been broken down into 3 parts. It’s during this that I realise that despite the very clear and massive Agalloch and Katatonia influences, The Morningside are increasingly finding a voice of their own and are starting to express it confidently. This pleases me greatly.
I did have my doubts about this one when I saw that it was reworking an already existing track and figured it to be a largely pointless exercise, yet how wrong I was! This is certainly the most creative I have heard The Morningside get, and the signs are good for the future. If you are the type of person who keeps all their music on a random mix, this will not work for you. You will need some time when you can lie in a dark, quiet room, undisturbed, and then Treelogia needs to be heard and digested in its entirety to get the full benefit from it. No, they are still not the most original band on the planet, and I still don’t care. This is an excellent and thoughtful work. I love it. You should too. Let’s all go tree hugging!
http://www.myspace.com/themorningsidemusic
Lee Kimber
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