the bush the tree and me

Lomax 21-02-01

One song may – alarmingly – compare being in love with the opening of a pore (no wonder Lynx users wind up with a procession of one-night stands), but Dave’s solo-ish stuff (tonight, he gets musical succour and support from various Rebel Monks) is sweat-free. Lush, languid tunes give him a chance to demonstrate a vocal range you might find surprising; cold hands and a warm heart. Throw in the names Finn and Buckley, stir in a hint of Throwing Muses and the more crushed moments of J Mascis, and you’ll be getting there. Horses sweat. Dave glows.

Now that Stephen Malkmus has become the Stephen Malkmus Brand ™, there’s a crying need for someone to pick up the test tube and cattleprod experiments that Pavement never quite completed. The Rebel Monks may well be the act to set the bunsen burner aflame again. More layered and with a deeper, lay-down beat, and with a hint of (whisper it) something shoegazey, the carefully crafted songs live where thoughts becomes moments, and moments become stories. This is our bloody valentine, bad rap act name notwithstanding.
As a band name, The Bush, The Tree and Me sounds like something the Smack the Pony team has come up with, and the band have more than a hint of the closing title spoof about them. There is, for example, a clarinet involved. Vocals veer between Harriet from the Sundays and Drusilla, the psychically distracted vamp off Buffy. Only without the heart of Hat or the heartlessness of Dru.

Polished, polite and pretty songs trot out in well-rehearsed formation, making their set feel not unlike being at a gymkhana. Which isn’t to say it wasn’t nice – the part of my soul that defensively will admit to liking early Beautiful South and offers a context in which it’s right not to lob the Indigo Girls out during a balloon debate, in fact has a wonderful time. And, if we must see rock in the milderness, rather bands like The Bush…, who appear to enjoy themselves on a cold night in Febraury, than the clockcard punching workaday Coldplays of this world.