The summery nighttime sound of crickets and frogs. A guitar enters with an elegant line that outlines a harmony that voices then rest upon. It’s a woman and a man singing together in soft harmonies. “We’ve all but lost our brightest days, our past we trust so we stay / In deepest dark we breath and move, it’s how we know to be safe.” A small string section answers. It’s soothing and sad, an examination of resignation and retreat, soaked with understanding and compassion.
“Brightest Days” is the first track from Mayday, the new EP from the New Haven-based Tall Trees and the band’s first since 2019’s Prayer for Surf Boy. The emotionality and intelligence of the first song is a good warm-up for what the rest of the album has in store, but it doesn’t prepare you for the stylistic range on display, as in five tracks, the band — Joe Russo on guitar and vocals, Marthe Ryerson on violin, keyboards, and vocals, Chris Cook on bass, and Wes Cross on drums, with Laura Flachbart on cello — moves from the sweetness of “Brightest Days” to the grittiness of “Mountain” to the cheeky bounciness of “Mayday” in a matter of minutes.
The lyrical content follows suit. After the withdrawn eeriness of “Brightest Days,” “Mountain” is very nearly a protest song. “On the Mountain where they burned the mattress where we slept / Smoke signals of what we could have had are all that’s left / In the valley where they took the babies as they wept / Mothers round the world, all they could do is hold their breath,” Russo and Ryerson sing. The title track then moves into abstract territory. “All we know, all we know blends into one / All we know will blend,” the duo sings on that song. “Stare out into vast white, often unknown life / Wear on past shore to the small boat in the sea.”
Throughout it all, Ryerson’s and Russo’s vocals — sometimes singing in unison, sometimes calling and responding, sometimes bouncing off each other — act as guides. The versatility of their voices is what lets the sonic range happen, as they can move from breathy, ethereal melodies to powerful unisons. Thus “Blood,” a upbeat can’t‑get-over-you song, moves along with a hip-shaking swagger.
Then on “Fall Apart,” Ryerson and Russo first trade verses, about a couple who just can’t seem to connect with each other. They come together only to sing the line “when we fall apart.” What follows is neatly orchestrated section, led by Ryerson’s violin. Russo’s guitar laces around the edges while the bass enters with a voice of its own. In the end, all the elements join in, only to complete the song’s dissolution.
The only issue with Mayday, really, is that it’s not long enough. That it leaves you wanting more is in the grand tradition of entertainment. But it seems clear that Tall Trees is a band with a lot of musical ideas, enough to fuel a few albums; we just have to be patient and wait for the next release, or the next live show.
Mayday is available on Bandcamp.
