We Are Trees – Dear Chan Marshall

Complete with a chugging acoustic, far off strings, and an easy recorded style, you’d almost expect We Are Trees singer James Nee to drop the first few bars of “Dear Chan Marshall” in Portuguese. The song has that sort of vaguely bossa, distant notion of Brazil feel to it. Yes, there’s also a Grizzly Bear-like quality here too. It does sort of sound like those Grizzly blokes. Though, We Are Trees, at least on this tune, come off as more immediate, more visceral. Whereas the Bear guys operate in some sort folk song Thermosphere, Nee and the Trees evoke feelings closer to ground; but still operating in some sort of efferscent layer of the near ether, still in the air, still floating. “Dear Chan Marshall” is the third of four tracks on We Are Trees debut LP Boyfriend. You can stream the EP here on the group’s bandcamp. Check it out.

Rating: 8.5

Reviewed by b3