The Forest & The Trees - Missions

Die erste Vorladung (VI)

Personalien:

Das Ehepaar Linnea und Joel Edin kommt aus Stockholm und veröffentlicht Platten unter dem Bandnamen The Forest & The Trees.

Tathergang:

Nachdem sie zuvor bereits bei Tupelo Honeys, der Band von Joel, zusammen gespielt hatten, gründeten sie 2008 The Forest & The Trees und veröffentlichten zwei Jahre später das selbstbetitelte Debütalbum.
Nachdem Linnea ihren Job und Joel die Lust am Studieren verloren hatten, gingen sie für vier Monate vom düsteren Schweden ins sonnige Valencia, um dort Inspirationen zu sammeln. Das Ergebnis trägt den Titel "Missions" und wurde von Johannes Berglund (The Radio Dept., The Knife, Shout Out Louds, I Break Horses) abgemischt. 

Plädoyer:

Positiver, charmanter und luftig-leichter Indiepop, wie er für so viele schwedische Bands, auch ohne vorherigen Spanienaufenthalt, typisch ist. Freunde der Musik von Club 8, Shout Out Louds, The Radio Dept. und The Cardigans könnten Linnea und Joel Edin auf ihrer Mission, die mit 9 Titeln in 35 Minuten ein wenig kurz geraten ist, folgen wollen. 

Eigentlich wären The Forest & The Trees bei Labrador Records in guten Händen.   

Zeugen:

It’s smart, it’s dense, it’s gleeful without edging into the cheesy, and mostly it’s just damn beautiful. It’ll leave you crushed or empowered, longing for a cinematic summer’s romance; while at its core, Missions reminds us of the power that pop music yields to delve into our deepest emotions, wrench at our tear ducts and, hell, even get us dancing. So much for the dreaded ‘sophomore slump’.
(London in Stereo)

The sound of Spain and its influence on the Edins is stark from the opening three tracks here; the skin and bones of The Forest & the Trees has grown some muscle and some optimism under the Valencia sun and it's transformed the carefree and winsome nature of the duo's music into something more focused. 'You're In My Skin' (the only song actually written in Spain) glows hot through Balearic-tinged beats and a driving sugary rush that's reminiscent of many indie-pop acts from the '80s (plus plenty from the Captured Tracks label at the minute) but there's a distinct Cocteau Twins flavour to the song that's a pleasing development. 'Putting Down the Gun' puts you in mind of fellow Swedes The Radio Dept. so it's no surprise to learn that Johannes Berglund is behind the production, expert as he is at crafting pop music with a sharp edge. The aforementioned 'Missions' finds the Edins trading lines and harmonies as they support each other in their choice to move away from Sweden: it's a song as much about growing up and losing that innocence behind snap decisions as it is about regaining it through taking (reasoned) chances.

The version of The Forest & The Trees we found on the first record is never completely forgotten, and can be heard on the baroque, string-laden swoon of 'The Song That Breaks My Heart' and the fragile, frosty folk pop of 'Flesh & Bone'...but the duo could write this sort of stuff in their sleep, so it's more interesting to hear something like 'What We Lost', a song that you could imagine beginning as an acoustic strum in the studio but is transformed by treated drums and a shivering electric guitar line into a storming indie anthem that really does point the way ahead for The Forest & The Trees.
(The 405)

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