Album/EP Review: HELD BY TREES – Eventide

October 22nd, 2023 by alanjones

Sound Canyon Records [Release date: 11.08.23]

Following on from Held By Trees’ excellent ‘Solace’ in 2022, the band assembled once more at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios to realise two projects.

The first was a sparkling, live re-recording of ‘Solace’ which I recently reviewed and compared favourably to the original, remarking that the remake had a real ‘bite’ about it that lifted it above the original by its sheer immediacy engendered by the live setting.

The second is ‘Eventide’ – a new suite of five pieces themed on the transition from daylight to darkness.

‘Eventide’ was recorded live in the studio, but my shoulders slumped a little when I read that additional layers were added by other musicians in America and Canada – apparently old friends of project leader David Joseph.

The question must be asked – why?

Hard to believe they weren’t confident enough in their own abilities given how good the live version of ‘Solace’ is, and, as a result, they’ve sort of crept back into their shell, which is a pity.

Don’t get me wrong, ‘Eventide’ is still a beautiful collection of songs – entirely instrumental – which paint aural pictures suggestive of many aspects of the passage of a day.

From the almost Hawaiian at times ‘Pure Sunlight’ creating an image of a deserted beach on a summer’s day (if such a thing exists) to closer ‘Grow Dark’ – sounding exactly as you would expect a song about twilight to sound, with mournful sax and nicely picked electric guitar – the songs wrap the listener in a cocoon of cotton wool.

However, the band appear to have switched back into ‘safe mode’ again and, despite the quality of the songs, find themselves occasionally lapsing into ‘lounge jazz’ territory.

This is a shame, because it’s all beautifully played, sounds great on headphones, and nobody expected a clutch of party bangers – but it’s probably best suited to mood music for TV documentaries about dolphins.

‘Eventide’ is issued as an EP as it only clocks in at a tad over 22 minutes, but the vinyl release is an LP which includes three tracks from ‘Solace: Live’ – ‘In The Trees’, ‘The Tree Of Life’ and ‘The New Earth’.

If you compare the three live tracks with the rest you’ll get my drift. ***1/2

Review by Alan Jones

Album review (Solace – Live At Real World Studios)

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions, streamed via Facebook.
In 2023 he signed a recording deal with Sony in Canada and released a new single on 15 September.

Next session: Sunday 1 December

Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio

David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast on 3 November 2024.

UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). This show was first broadcast 29 October 2024.

How to Listen Live?

Click the programming image at the top of the page (top right of page if using desktop)

Listen via Windows Media Player. Click or tap here and “open file”
Listen via other media player (eg. VLC) Click or tap here and “open file”

Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.

More information and links at our radio website where you can listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com

Power Plays w/c 11 November 2024

ARCANE MOON Hello Sun (indie)
S8NT ELEKTRIC XTC (Long Branch Records)
ARCANA KINGS Here We Go (Curtain Call Records)
KLOGR face The Unknown (Zeta Factory)
BEYOND UNBROKEN Dance With The Dead (FiXT)
REVENGIN Decadent Feeling (Wormholedeath)

Featured Albums w/c 11 November 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Singer Songwriter)