Tuesday 20 October 2015

My Home On Trees - How I Reached Home (Album Review)


Release date: September 25th 2015. Label: Heavy Psych Sounds. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

How I Reached Home – Tracklisting

1. Winter(feat. Steve Moss of The Midnight Ghost Train)
2. I Forget Everything
3. Don't Panic
4. War Of The Worlds
5. Arrow
6. Resume
7. My Home On Trees

Band Members:

Laura Mancini - vocals
Marco Bertucci - guitars
Giovanni Mastrapasqua - bass guitar
Marcello Modica - drums

Review:

My Home On Trees from Milano, Italy, are another brand new acquaintance to me even though they've been around for a few years already. 'How I Reached Home' is their second full-length but the first on Heavy Psych Sounds, and man this is so damned good! Might have said this before but I do love to be introduced bands like My Home On Trees. You know, outfits who have been kicking around a bit, and simply blow me away when I finally get to hear them. It truly instil renewed faith in the world of music for me.

Starting off this brand new wax with 'Winter' and hell, this how you do it. Go all out and sucker-punch the listeners, giving them no respite whatsoever. Full tilt from the start, they pummel me over and over as the ballsy Laura Mancini bellows and croons, piling even more hurt on me. Eventually they slow down considerably only to be joined by Steve Moss from The Midnight Ghost Train on vocals. And his presence adds layers upon layers of darkness on the tune…beautiful! At first, ‘I Forget Everything’ has an 80’s indie-feel to it that seamlessly shifts to a sludgy beast. Picking up pace gradually the songs turns into a slow fuzzed-out desert tune while Signorina Mancini again show what a fantastic singer she is. ‘Don’t Panic’ is a mid-paced fully blown stoner composition in the Kyuss mould. It snakes and weaves back and forth before hitting the speed of a snail only to kick-start and taking the shape of punk tune overdosing on reverb. Since I really, really like ‘How I Reached Home’ and don’t want to rain on My Home On Trees’ parade, the inclusion of an excerpt from the original radio broadcast of ‘War Of The Worlds’ is pointless. To me it doesn’t serve any purpose with the other songs and the band should have included another tune instead. Enough moaning on my part though.

Picking up where ‘Don’t Panic’ left off, ‘Arrow’ ups the ante somewhat. Retaining stoner as its base, there’s a lot more punk discernible. Both in the music and in the singing. Up front and in my face, I just love it. Husky and seductive and backed by an eerie harmonica and a tripped out bass guitar, Laura leads My Home On Trees into the realm of led-heavy badassery, as ‘Resume’ adopts an ebb and flow persona which works so beautifully with the song’s spaced-out approach. Don’t get fooled though, because it’s a scary composition, and then some. ‘My Home On Trees’ is the album closer and step by step, it crushes me to a bloody pulp. Not particularly fast, it instead severely punishing in its quest completely disintegrate me. Fantastic, you hear!

Somehow they mix punk attitude with doom, stoner and sludge and it works so well. Can’t stress enough how damned tight and talented Signori Bertucci, Mastrapasqua and Modica are, as they blend these styles while creating second to none, amazing music. Add Signorina Mancini’s earth-shattering voice on top of the music and you one of my new favourite bands, My Home On Trees. These Italians are not to be ignored, so check them out pronto and help spread the word.

Words by Håkan Nyman

Thanks to Claire at Purple Sage PR for the promo. How I Reach Home is now available to buy now on CD/DD/Vinyl from Heavy Psych Sounds.

Links:

Facebook | BandCamp