Delay Trees - Delay Trees (2010)

1) Gold; 2) Cassette 2012; 3) About Brothers; 4) Pattern; 5) In February; 6) Quarantine; 7) Light Pollution; 8) Tarantula/Holding On; 9) Whales & Colors; 10) 4:45 AM

Wistful, dreamy, shimmering - the kind of debut that lays all of the band's cards on the table in a display of strength. And hits close to home - subjectivity warning!

 

Key tracks: "Gold", "About Brothers", "Tarantula/Holding On"

During the extensive time I’ve spent far away from my Nordic home grounds of Finland, I’ve come to properly understand how music reflects its origins in ways that may not seem obvious or to be even there at all at first. Having been living in the UK for a number of years now, surrounded by the culture and having the first-hand experience of its locales has helped to clarify what certain British albums I enjoyed even back in Finland have tried to convey in their words or atmosphere - and as a result. I now get more out of these albums. Likewise, effectively becoming estranged from everyday life in Finland in a number of ways has made me reflect on certain quintessentially Finnish characteristics that never jumped out at me before, and how that can be carried over even through music. The amount of Finnish music I listened to multiplied by scores within the first couple of years after I had moved: you don’t really truly get what’s special in what you see as mundane and normal until you become distant from it, and at that point it starts to become exciting in its own right in a strange mix of homesickness and novelty.

So, Delay Trees’ self-titled debut album then.

One thing to note about Delay Trees as a band is that they are very direct and sincere in their music. There’s little in the way of pretension or overpowering ambition and singer Rami Vierula’s lyrics are extremely face-value, more akin to a friend talking to you about what’s been going through his head rather than holding a focus on any poetic flourishes or hidden meanings. They splice their indie rock with heapings of dream pop and they are very clear about the latter: there’s a focus on melody throughout, be it a central hook driving the song or the numerous guitar jangles swirling around it. The dream aspect comes in the hazy atmosphere, the music viewed through a gentle summer morning sunshine, the world waking up and welcoming. The sheer openness of Delay Trees is disarming: right from the beckoning opening notes of “Gold” the music invites you in and sounds very sincere about wanting you to become a part of their world. The songs can get wistful at times but there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel: the collective joy of a band creating art together coming through every note.

What definitely wasn’t very apparent to me at first is how much that sincerity actually channels where the music came from - or at the very least, how it impacted me in that respect. Delay Trees isn’t a very obviously Finnish album beyond Vierula’s clear accent and the mention of Helsinki in “Whales & Colors”, but a certain je ne sais quoi of the country’s core collective consciousness runs through every note - enough so that after a while, it started to be one of the primary reasons I’d put the record on. It has an understated, homely charisma that radiates with the ambience of the silent countrysides, quiet small towns and calm urban centres of where it came from. The emotional directness of the lyrics have an understated quality so befitting of Finnish personality as well, and manage to convey a lot about their context through that stylistic decision, not to mention that there’s “Quarantine”: a dryly comedic documentation of the utter horror of being happy and social with strangers, which is about as Finnish as it gets. Every melody brings back memories of old familiar places and sights even though the album was never directly associated with them, each sung line resonates probably more than it should (Vierula is a great example of a frontman who’s not the greatest singer or lyricist objectively speaking, but who fits absolutely perfectly to what the band are going for). It’s turned Delay Trees into a portable home away from home at sorts - a particular familiar atmosphere to sink into.

That’s a grand thing admittedly, an aspect that already makes the album special in a way, but even better is that this wholly personal vibe is just an additional, subsequently developed layer to what is a generally impressive album even in more “objective” terms. These are great songs, where the directness and melodic emphasis results in music that balances the line between intimate and anthemic: sky-soaring pop songs, walls of sound and heartfelt epics. Look no further than the opening trio: “Gold” is an incredible, ever-building tower of textured atmosphere, and “Cassette 2012” and “About Brothers” are just about the most perfect kinds of indie pop gems. The latter two, in particular, perfectly captures all the bittersweetness, soulfulness, haziness and beauty that the band reach for throughout the album. It’s a trio of instant classics that are enough to land the album on the map, and that the album actually keeps up the momentum is fantastic as it is, but it even matches it later on with its closing trio. “Tarantula/Holding On” is a masterpiece that builds into a gorgeous, gigantic finale where the album’s heart and soul is exposed, “4:45 AM” is the sunset to the sunrise of “Gold” and while “Whales & Colors” is a fairly minimal song largely intended to be the breather between the two epics, its effortless beauty and tranquility shining through in its moment of stillness. The album’s two central elements are highlighted by “Pattern” which lets the ambiance be the lead and sounds like the sweetest dream, and the pop part of the dream pop aspect comes through the most in “Quarantine” which pairs its humourous lyrics with a laid-back, feel-good stroll of a tune that lifts up the album’s energy.

On those terms, just based on the songs (including the two not specifically mentioned - still really good), Delay Trees is already one of the best debuts of its era: the kind of album that makes you gleefully excited about a new band and which you keep wanting to return to. It’s where all the building blocks that Delay Trees use are in perfect balance and harmony: an ideal blueprint of sorts that has since been followed by the band’s more emphasised exploration of the various facets of theirs. Clearly, I openly admit there is a lot of personal bias at play because when I listen to Delay Trees, it’s not just the great songs that I think about. Delay Trees are a fantastic example of the particular traits that Finnish indie rock has and the unique way the country’s musical talent filters through and adapts their foreign influences, and through that they’ve managed to bring forth so much of the country itself so evocatively that each listen is a trip to various memories and abstract notions of their - my - culture. An impressive feat for an album that appeared way after I first moved out and never directly associated itself with the context it somehow bears. But while normally something so personal is hard to recommend because it’ll never have that reaction to anyone else, it’s not the case with this album because all of that personal malarkey appeared out of nowhere a long time after the album had already become a part of my frequent rotation: the great set of songs on their own had already claimed a part of my heart before then.

Rating: 9/10