Though they dabbled with softer, folky material on 1999's Spanish Dance Troupe, Gorky's Zygotic Mynci are essentially a pop band whose accessible style has manifested as a more cerebral and elegant facet of Britpop. The idea of the ever-jangly Myncis generating a record comprised almost entirely of acoustic instruments and rootsy tunes isn't exactly jaw-dropping; before The Blue Trees it seemed about as likely as Ida recording a record with balls.
Even so, if their new EP is to be considered shocking, it has little to do with the surface aesthetics, and much more to do with how accomplished it is. Gracefully sliding the genre into the acousto-folk realm results in a record that will be widely considered as Gorky's foray into "maturity." Such a claim, though, superficially tends to degrade what's actually going on-- a grown-up record full of pretension and seeped in hebetude is not what Gorky's are offering. Rather, it's an accomplished 24 minutes that are as wise and adroit as they are delightful.
If some of the band's past melodies have come off a bit oversweet, they make up for it in spades with The Blue Trees. Though the EP is undeniably candied, Gorky's turn down the tone knob to "understated," and avoid sounding cloying. The shimmery instrumental title track opens the record with a gently picked guitar. The song's instrumentation is like a sonic capillary with a piano, fiddle, and another guitar joining in one at a time, until they swell to a dense climax. "Wrong Turnings" is another sublime instrumental that benefits from a similar dynamic, though is further bolstered by drastic tempo changes. What could have been merely a languid, pretty composition is made gorgeously unpredictable by what paradoxically feel like uncontrived musical twists.
What's most impressive, though, is that The Blue Trees remains effortlessly sincere. Euros Childs' wispy, affectation-free vocals are undeniably suited for the subtle nature of the material. He's got the kind of voice that can make lyrics like, "We slept underneath the stars/ And we talked about girls seen from afar/ What's her name?/ I don't know/ How do I get to know?" over a "Rosewood Casket" melody, sound completely believable, if not heartfelt.
"Face Like the Summer" is a similarly winsome tune that could have been perfect campfire sing-along fare, had it been played on the guitar instead of Childs' keyboard. This is no gripe, though-- Gorky's turn up the melancholy just enough to achieve poignancy, but swiftly avoid maudlin indulgence. Childs' aw-shucks approach to lines like, "So young in years/ Probably end in tears/ But I somehow don't mind," endow the song all the more endearing.
Slight deviations from the quiet acoustic on a few tracks, though, makes for shakier business. "Foot and Mouth '68" is the low point, a mournful instrumental with an ambient keyboard foundation. The song is perhaps too meandering for its own good, and seems out of place on a release so succinct and cohesive. Their Honeybus cover, "Fresher Than the Sweetness in Water," is slightly more poppy and psychedelic than the rest of the songs on The Blue Trees, but far more successful than "Foot." Though drums make one of two cameos during the EP in this cover, a fiddle helps countrify the track and ensures integration.
The folk sound of The Blue Trees comes at the expense of Gorky's signature fun. Still, when a record is this coherent in its abandonment of previously established conventions by its creators, a sense of festivity is barely missed. With their neo-psycho-prog-pop abandoned, Gorky's Zygotic Mynci have created a work that is an illustration in the beauty in risk-taking by a band that's apparently more deft than they've been letting on for over a decade. Fluke or not, The Blue Trees proves how unjust it's been to have Gorky's playing second fiddles to that other Welsh band, Super Furry Animals. Finally, Gorky's are playing their own.
