This debut release from pop-rockers Between the Trees is synth-led and guitar-heavy, fronted by a vocalist that emboides the growingly popular slightly-high-but-not-too-whiney vocal style. Between the Trees is undoubtedly a rock group with pop sensibilities, but they manage to remain only slightly reserved about it. The tracks on The Story and the Song are well-paced and reasonably well crafted, though the band certainly isn’t going to win any comparisons to Lennon and McCartney.
This album is good, sure, but it’s really not something worth listening to repeatedly. There’s nothing innovative here, just the usual pop-rock stylings that became popular recently after the the fall of post-hardcore. Between the Trees, for their debut release, have written an album that’s a good listen, this isn’t in doubt. The Story and the Song is far from terrible, and given some time, the band has a fair chance and a reasonable amount of talent, which they’ve displayed here, to create something of some real, undeniable worth.
Matthew Montgomery