‘Tree Bursts in Snow’ is the follow up album to Admiral Fallow’s acclaimed debut ‘Boots Met My Face’. The whole folk rock thing might be starting to get a bit stale now, with everybody wanting to emulate the success of the likes of ‘Laura Marling’, ‘Mumford & Sons’ and ‘Noah & the Whale’ but this Glaswegian quintet proves that they have a bit more depth than that.
There are many aspects of the album which shares similarities to its predecessor; there are still angelic harmonies, hypnotic wind instruments and Louis Abbott’s intelligent and poetic word-smitthery. However the overall feel of ‘Tree Bursts in Snow’ is far more up-tempo and happier yet less personal.
The album opens with ‘Tree Bursts’, a beautiful call and response between front man, Abbott and the bands female vocalist, Sarah Hayes.
The majority of the album is laden with hooks and big choruses, two things that weren’t a common feature of the debut. ‘The Pater Trench’, ‘Guest of the Government’ and ‘Beetle in the Box’ are all perfect examples of this; with each of these running consecutively the pace of the album declines with ‘Old Fools’ but then picks up again in the decline of the 6 minute track before flowing perfectly into a potential festival hit ‘Isn’t This World Enough??’.
Said potential festival hit is a perfect example of Abbott’s “word-smitthery”; with vivid visionary and lines such as “There will be no deposit back from a cosmic landlord” it is proof that Abbott is a bit sharper than your typical song writer.
Overall ‘Tree Bursts in Snow’ is the perfect follow up to the band’s debut; they have progressed from the previous album yet still kept their distinct sound. They have taken the best bits of ‘Boots Met My Face’ and expanded on those aspects. In no way does it feel like they have tried to recreate the success of before.
Overall Rating : 4.5/5
