Reviewed by Jamie Maxwell

Thanks to affordable home studio software, everyone with a laptop and a guitar is producing their own album these days. The standard of these homemade offerings tends to be rather lacking, and even good songwriting is not always enough to redeem them. As such it is easy to approach these with a negative preconception and I wasn't particularly optimistic before I heard Staffordshire-based Tall Trees' independently released debut. Relatively quickly though, it became clear that this was a cut above the rest in terms of originality and quality. Tall Trees don't seem to refer to themselves as a band, instead giving a four point statement describing who they are. Although they have been labelled an electro group, most of their songs seem to fit more easily into the guitar-driven rock category, albeit with a refreshingly different approach to most. For me there were a number of real standout moments, not least the guitar work on the opening track: "Heaven", the looped groove of "Your Love" and throughout some excellent vocals from Tracey Taylor. "Heaven" is particularly strong, both melodically and lyrically. Overall, this is an album which pleasantly surprises with its high standard of musicianship, composition and production.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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