Artist: The Dreaming Tree Album: Grafting Lines and Spreading Rumours Label: Bombsite Productions Website: http://www.thedreamingtree.co.uk Reviewer: Paulo André

Track List: 01. Ring 02. The Changeling 03. Ashes 04. The Best, Kind Of (The Alcohol Song) 05. Static 06. D.T.Suzuki 07. (The Roads Down Which Our) Dreams And Shadows Drive 08. Between The Lines 09. Unified 10. Your All That Ever Was 11. Nyrolex 12. Corner of a Circle 13. Love, Love, Love 14. Remains The Same The Dreaming Tree hail from England and have been around for a good five years. After a four song EP, "Grafting Lines And Spreading Rumours" is their first full length and to me they definitely come across as a band hard to categorize. Is that good or bad? Usually, I think that's a good thing and The Dreaming Tree are not the exception to that particular rule. According to their promotional material, influences are all over the place and range from Led Zeppelin and Spock's Beard, to Stevie Wonder and Leonard Cohen all the way through Red Hot Chili Peppers or Dave Matthews Band. Well, that's quite a melting pot. In the end, the band manages to forge their own identity, sounding distinctly themselves and putting most of their influences to good use here. Individually, each member definitely knows his role and is technically impressive even if you won't find much soloing at all here. They just know their place and for that's invaluable. The real charm of The Dreaming Band, and this shouldn't be detrimental to the other players at all, I feel comes from the drums - tasty drumming in here! - along with the beautiful piano and different synthesizers. The band sounds tight, sonically very good and while the lyrics can be cryptic sometimes, there's a slight feeling of melancholia - perhaps induced by unrequited love, perhaps not - masked by a good dose of light hearted, upbeat defiance. The vocals by Chris Buckler may sound a little out of place at first but it soon was revealed to me that they fit the mood and the music perfectly. There's something completely English about him that, to my ears, just works. While certainly varied and hard to pigeonhole, The Dreaming Tree never get too fast or too heavy and that's just fine for what they seem to be trying to achieve. The exception is probably "Corner of a Circle", using a distinct 80s vibe and crunchy guitar to good effect. "Love, Love, Love" somehow reminded me of Pink Floyd's "The Piper At The Gates of Dawn" with all the weird psychedelia going on, only updated to the 21st century. "Nyrolex" resembles both Marillion's "Kayleigh" and the Chili Peppers maybe a little too closely but is otherwise an excellent light pop song. "Between The Lines" reminded me of later Rush as well. So, when all is said and done, "Grafting Lines and Spreading Rumours" is a very nice debut only marred by its excessive length. At almost a hour and a quarter, it just goes on a little too long and it would certainly be more effective had it been trimmed. Other than that, while no earth is shattered here, this is a delightful proggy poppy rocky record that demands repeated spins for when you're in a good, light mood. Or even to cheer you up a little, if need be. Band: Chris Buckler: Vocals Dan Jones: Guitars Neil Ablard: Drums & Percussion Jim Peterson: Bass Steve Barratt: Keyboards