If These Trees Could Talk is an American instrumental post-rock band from Akron, Ohio comprising of Cody Kelly (guitar), Tom Fihe (bass guitar), Jeff Kalal (guitar), Mike Socrates (guitar), and Zack Kelly (drums).
In 2024 they released a single `Trail of Whispering Giants`, the group’s first new music in eight years.
This month the band release `The Hidden Hand` an album which arrives just over a decade since their last `The Bones of a Dying World`. The band’s latest instrumental odyssey was so named because of a “fascination with the unexplained and unknowable especially in the areas of influence, control and guidance,” drummer Zack Kelly band-co-founder explains “symbols and signs hidden in plain sight only available to those who are looking.”
The album awakes with `Archons` and a quick search revealed that an Archon primarily refers to a master celestial entity in Gnosticism, an ancient magistrate in Classical Greece, malevolent or flawed celestial rulers of the material cosmos. The number which shines for one hundred and thirteen seconds before bleeding into the next offering does have a kind of otherworldly ambience. `Moon Machine` is fairly robust with a driving drumbeat and shimmering guitar riffs. The title could be a nod towards horology and high-end watchmaking collaborations featuring unique lunar phase indicators or a lyrical metaphor for impossible journeys, lunar timekeeping devices, or automated space exploration technology. Nevertheless it’s a captivating engaging listen which veers and deviates from quite ethereal to much more tribal as it evolves and grows before finally fading out.
The title `Sea of Glass` intrigued me and a quick browse lead me to it being a crystalline, glass-like expanse before the throne of God. It symbolises divine holiness, purity, and the divide between the Creator and creation and appears as a recurring vision in the Book of Revelation. A quite absorbed and reflective submission which offered up a feeling of uncertainty or maybe a search for meaning. There was a strange nigh on call to arms running through `Blurry Creatures` a number that felt like a precursor to something significant. A clash or skirmish possibly.
The next two numbers `Silence Between Mountains Pt. 1` and `Silence Between Mountains Pt. 2` run in total at around eight and a half minutes with the former around half the length of the latter. Pt.1 is much more stripped back and acoustic whereas Pt.2 is more of an expanded band effort. The phrase used in both songs may symbolise an escape from worldly noise, serving as a metaphor for mental clarity, inner peace, and the timeless wisdom gained through solitude. The compositions are wonderfully engaging and almost spellbinding.
There`s a real shimmer to`Metanoia` which can be a transformative journey of fundamental change, translating literally from Ancient Greek as a “change of mind” or “repentance”. It represents a profound shift in one’s perspective, self, or way of life, often sparked by an existential crisis, epiphany, or deep personal growth.
I read that `Film` is a cover of the Aphex Twin song from `Come To Daddy` as Aphex Twin were a big inspiration for the band growing up in the nineties. The heart of the song remains but ITTCT have given it their own stamp and it`s much less techno than the original.
We bow out on `Endlessly Connected` which possibly refers to an unbroken, perpetual state of being linked, associated, or online without a defined conclusion. It`s a final dreamlike and illusory piece and no better a track to wrap things up with.
The band have been praised by Metal Hammer for “uplifting post-rock that layers cascading guitars over tight drums with a deep emotional resonance,” and I’d find it hard to produce a better description.
As drummer and band-co-founder Zack Kelly explains, “the If These Trees Could Talk experience feels like a slow, wordless conversation between the inner and outer world. Best consumed like the score to a cinematic picture or a space for meditation, healing, and clarity.”
As i`ve matured , i`ve come to appreciate the delights of instrumental albums which at times allow the listener to draw their own inferences and conclusions from what is created and shared. `The Hidden Hand` offers up for me, a deep seated spirituality and emotional connection.
`Hidden Hand` is a long overdue triumphant return from If These Trees Could Talk.
Rating 9/10
