The Black Atlantic: Reverence for Falling Trees

For a while I was in two minds about whether or not to write a post about this album or not. This doubt had nothing to do with my own opinions of the record, but stemmed from the fact that I found out about it through a music blog myself; Tart, over at Love Shack, Baby has rather taken this band to heart, and it was only through her review that I became aware of Dutch outfit The Black Atlantic. All I know about this band is what I learnt from Tart's post, so surely the logical thing to do would be to link the her review and leave it at that. The only thing I have to offer is my opinion, after all... And there's the rub; that's all this blog's ever contained, despite my dreams of being a "journalist". If I ever provide real information it's only ever as an aside to my thoughts. I imagine a fair share of you, my dear readers, are also followers of Love Shack, Baby, but then I'm also sure that some of you aren't. And this is a great record and it would be a shame if you missed out.

The Black Atlantic released this, their debut album, back in August '09, but they've only just popped up on my radar this week and they've got a good-sized tour scheduled for the coming months so there's every reason to class this release as "current". Reverence for Fallen Trees has been released for free (in exchange for an email address) here, and I'd recommend that you get your paws on it as soon as you can. One of my big fears when the digital music revolution loomed was that we'd see the end of the album as the default format for music delivery. What with iTunes and the proliferance of music blogs such as this one, it seemed that all the emphasis was being placed on individual tracks. Thankfully the idea of listening to - and more importantly making - a set of songs designed to be absorbed in one sitting, end-to-end, is still as popular as ever, and Reverence for Falling Trees is yet another sterling example of that concept.

This record is a solid thirty-five minutes of four musicians playing as a band. I'm a big fan of singer-songwriters and their propensity for bringing in outside players to create a fuller sound, but that process will never sound as complete as proper band. When all the players are working together towards a common goal and on a equal footing something magical happens, and I'd say that is most certainly what's happened on this record. The songs aren't particularly amazing - at best I'd describe them as competent, at worst downright european-sounding - and there's not really anything new to be found here, but there's a definite pleasure to found in hearing a proper band; one that's worth my attention any day of the week.

Long story short: Get your free copy, set aside some time for it, and listen to Reverence for Falling Trees in it's entirety. Despite it's somewhat limited artistic scope this album still makes for a rewarding listen. All The Black Atlantic really do is make music without making any mistakes, but they do that with such style and confidence that in this case that's all that's needed.

The Black Atlantic - Old, Dim Light [audio //www.bearfacedrecords.com/EbMBlog_mp3s/TheBlackAtlantic/TheBlackAtlantic_OldDimLight.mp3]

The Black Atlantic - Fragile Meadow [audio //www.bearfacedrecords.com/EbMBlog_mp3s/TheBlackAtlantic/TheBlackAtlantic_FragileMeadow.mp3]