I love Tree Creature(s)
There was an off-the-cuff Judi Chicago field-trip last week, when we caught our friends Gold-Painted Nails, and Tree Creature playing with the (actually rather good) Indian Jewelry.
It was a great night: Gold Painted Nails turned in the best show I’ve seen from him, but my greatest delight of the evening was finally seeing Tree Creature for the first time.
Originality is hard to come by with electronic music, particularly in these laptop times. Tree Creature plays a fluid, organic blend of largely electronic sounds, by hand, augmented with occasional chanting and singing. It’s a heady mix, and intensely psychedelic.
During the set, I heard the occasional glimpse of possible influences, and refractions of artists I love: Klaus Schulze, Terry Riley, Plone… But the way in which they approach arrangement and performance was definitely their own. Everything seems to be suspended in the air around you: static, but always changing (I’m aware that’s an oxymoron… you have to be there).
They certainly defied my expectations: I had anticipated a worthy, ‘experimental’ set of low drones and furrowed brows, and was very pleasantly surprised by how playful and fun it was. At times I felt like I was watching ‘The Last Unicorn’, or riding a racing snail with Giorgio Moroder in the Never Ending Story.
Hear Tree Creature here and here.
-Crystal Tripps (Still Judi, Always Chicago)