Palomino horses are, according to the giant brain behind Wikipedia, a quirk of ‘incomplete genetic dominance’. Struggling to find a nifty way to align that interesting factoid to the new album by London five-piece, Treetop Flyers, I’m afraid that all I have is the somewhat glib observation that there is very little that is ‘incomplete’ about either the band or their latest record.
‘Palomino’, the culmination of personal trials endured by various members of the band, should have been a doom-ridden affair. Indeed, it feels, reading the press release that accompanied the CD, that it’s a wonder the record emerged at all. Confounding expectations, however, from its first to the last moments, this is a work imbued with brilliance and is largely free from gloom!
Driven masterfully by the cracked, soulful vocals of Reid Morrison (oddly reminiscent of Roland Gift), ‘Palomino’ is packed with the kind of sundrenched Laurel Canyon folk-rock espoused by Father John Misty, The Shins and The Sadies, but is gutsier than any of those references. In fact, you get the distinct impression, listening to the album, that it has its feet firmly rooted to the ground… there is nothing ethereal or ephemeral about it. Yes, it’s experimental in places, and the band have clearly thrown their sound up in the air just to see how the pieces land, but there’s a real honesty and joy to that process which can be heard within their songs. Morrison notes, “We’d been through a lot individually and collectively. Coming together to make this record was very therapeutic for us, in a sense. It brought us closer and allowed us to let go of a lot of the bullshit that we’d had to endure and negotiate in the past.”
It’s a fair assumption that five guys in a studio fiddling with synths, guitars and drum kits may seem to be involving themselves in activity that is divorced from the real world – men in their metaphorical sheds you might say. But scratch the surface and you will hear something deeply honest and affecting within this record as this particularly wonderful band attack their art as if it’s the tonic to turbulent times.
by Owen Gillham
‘Palomino’ was released on Loose Records in February 2016
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