Trees Speak – TimeFold

Description

Trees Speak return with ‘TimeFold’, their sixth release on Soul Jazz
Records, further expanding their ever-evolving sonic universe. This new
album builds on their signature blend of hypnotic Krautrock rhythms, post-
punk angularity, and experimental soundscapes while venturing into new
terrain by blending influences from avant-garde electronics to ceremonial
sound forms.
On ‘TimeFold’, Trees Speak (comprised of the Tucson-based duo Damian
Diaz and Daniel Martin Diaz) push their musical boundaries from expansive,
intergalactic landscapes to eerie, imagined 1970s Italian and French sci-fi
horror film scores. The album seamlessly weaves John Carpenter-esque
synthesizer motifs with ambient sound sculptures, conjuring immersive
worlds that are both cinematic and otherworldly.
The album also incorporates the duo’s deep-rooted influences, which span
across electronic pioneers like Jean-Michel Jarre (‘Oxygene’), Tangerine
Dream and Karlheinz Stockhausen. Drawing on the revolutionary techniques
of Musique Concrète, ‘TimeFold’ features experimental track splicing,
looping, and collage work that harkens back to the golden age of avant-garde
music. At times, the album channels the ceremonial tones and hypnotic
rhythms reminiscent of early 1970s Krautrock, fusing these sounds with
organic instrumentation like dulcimers, adding an earthy, drone-like ritual
quality to the experimental electronic framework.
A new element in this release is the inclusion of spoken word by Ashley
Christine Edwards, which lends the album a haunting, apocalyptic edge. Her
contributions evoke a tone reminiscent of the 1970s avant-garde scene,
recalling literary and conceptual artists like Ruth White. The spoken words
create a sensory experience akin to ceremonial chants, adding to the
atmospheric intensity of the album. These vocal elements tie into the overall
theme of ‘TimeFold’, which continues Trees Speak’s exploration of futuristic
technologies and the communication of nature, with the evocative concept of
trees and plants acting as organic hard drives storing data and knowledge.
Drawing further influence from Italian and French horror cinema, Trees
Speak explore cinematic tension throughout ‘TimeFold’, creating a layered
listening experience. The record transports the listener from the haunting,
desolate beauty of Southwestern desert vast landscapes to an auditory
space that melds early electronic experimentation with the contemporary
urgency of conceptual art.
Since their debut, ‘Ohms’, in 2020, Trees Speak’s prolific output on Soul
Jazz Records has continually redefined genre boundaries. ‘TimeFold’
solidifies their position as visionaries in experimental music, offering an
album that is as much a meditation on future technologies as it is a tribute to
the avant-garde traditions that have come before.