A monolithic drone keeps you on guard. You're waiting for whatever is coming, but you don't know that "what" is. The artwork of Trees' Lights Bane hints at something intense, but there's an ambiguity that accompanies it. The album, the Portland quartet's debut, has only two tracks listed, and each of them are over twelve minutes in length. Lights Bane... the bane of light? The song names seem to explain the album's title. Two songs, two representations of the absence of light, the weight of gloom: "Nothing" and "Black."
"Nothing" makes you wait for a minute before spontaneous hits of the crash welcome guttural, vicious vocals. For fifteen minutes, you think Trees could either flip the fuck out or end the song at any second. A torrential static follows every blast of guitar, filling in the gaps of what would be silence. The vocalist whispers ominously and holds out distant screams from time to time over the droning feedback until the guitar moves again, giving the song a free-form feeling. Trees take their time making "Nothing" exceptionally heavy, the sluggish composition of the song only adding to its threatening tone.
"Black" starts with what sounds like Kayo Dot's Toby Driver snarling his words. The song picks up exactly where "Nothing" left off. Perhaps Lights Bane is one composition merely broken up into two parts for accessibility. Without the division of tracks, Lights Bane would be a twenty-seven minute arrangement. The exact same tactics are used on "Black," and it is relatively hard to distinguish between the two.
With October only a few days away, I cannot help but think of Halloween. Trees would be perfect music to play at your front door while young, costume-clad "sweet tooths" approach your house. We've all heard the Halloween CD's that people use to add an evil aura to their front porches. I say pick up Lights Bane. It would work a lot better. Sounds of ghoulish laughing and chains being dragged on the ground can only be scary to a certain extent.
See also
Sunn 0))), Boris' "Amplifier Worship"
