For their debut studio album Light Remaining, Abrasive Trees cover such subject matter as trauma recovery, energised highs, facing death alone and living within a fractured society. Weighty for sure, but they manage to do so with instrumentation that is atmospheric and not too overbearing for the most part. The core trio of Jay Newton (guitars), Matthew Rochford (vocals, guitars) and Will Tyler (drums, bass) are joined by Ben Roberts on cello and Gravity Machine singer Yunala Songweaver.
Opener ‘No Solace’ fuses droning guitars with spoken word passages giving an unsettling apocalyptic atmospheric. The angular post-punk guitars of ‘Star Sapphire’ switch to languid post-rock passages with ease. ‘Tao To Earth’ has an eastern feel with swirling guitars that sound like sitars leading the charge. Alternating passages of spoken word and prog rock make for an intriguing mix.
‘Flickering Flame’ waivers with a yearning fragility as does Matthew’s voice which suits the dark tone. ‘Carved Skull’ has a beautiful aching melody and swirling melancholic guitars. When the ghostly chant “Are we divided?” strikes up it’s very reminiscent of Crippled Black Phoenix. The expansive ‘I Didn’t Mean To Hurt You’ opens with a stunning psychedelic passage before expanding into a dreamy atmospheric with strings adding to the mix. The dynamic swerves out of control as the tempo picks up, hurtling seemingly out of control. Taking the track into epic territory it finally settles on a proggy sequence of heavier guitars and soloing. Finally, ‘Megadrone’ has an edgy feel to it with a menacing hum flowing with piano sprinkled into the mix. Matthew brings a deathly monotone spoken word that adds to the unease.
There’s much promise for this band based on this album and the sounds therein. I did find the spoken word passages a little challenging, but it’s probably just not my thing no matter who does it. The production maybe sounds a little undercooked but obviously budget can play a part for a band finding their feet. Overall, this is an intriguing collection and there’s clearly a lot of ideas flowing so future albums are worth watching out for.
