Finnish band Treemer appeared on the scene late in 2019 when they released an EP entitled ‘Meeting’, and their new EP ‘Storm’ is a very welcome return for the band – particularly if you like outfits such as Cocteau Twins, Slowdive and The Cure, which Treemer are definitely influenced by.
They’re a band with an interesting history, founded as Chickenpotpie under a slightly different line-up, then some members having success as The Pansies, continuing as Montevideo, before disappearing on an extended hiatus and reappearing as Treemer. They always come across as such a lovely band too, and always having fun making music.
The one thing I remember from seeing the likes of Slowdive, Curve and even Spirea X (anyone remember them?) when I was first old enough to attend gigs was that it was pretty much a blur of guitar noise, with only a hint of vocals peeking through. And that’s definitely the style that Treemer adopt. I think I commented on previous single 'Syllable Skies' that there wasn’t much hope for my ears of picking out the lyrics, and same definitely applies throughout ‘Storm’.
Of course, that might not be for everyone. But I do love this band, because they just make one hell of a good noise. Lead single ‘Storm’ opens with a thumping reverberating guitar riff, with a long instrumental intro, before Mia’s vocals are introduced and float across the atmospheric echoing cacophony of guitar sound – and the transition into the chorus is as blissful as it gets.
‘Weapons’ is darker, maybe a hint of grunge influence, with a searing guitar and the half spoken vocals have a hint of menace to them, before it breaks out into a manic high tempo chorus. This would clearly be epic live.
The opening of ‘Slow’ is actually less convincing to me, but when the vocals break through strongly at 2 minutes they really manage to capture something pretty special, and the guitar sound builds towards the end of the track with a stunning wall of sound - it’s an absolute highlight of the EP, and actually I would have been happy if it had continued ‘post rock’ style for a couple more minutes
Concluding track ‘Starlit’ really does take me back to some of the bands of my youth, I can hear Cocteau’s, early Lush and a host of other shoegaze bands. The vocal melody is at a dreamy best, and the shimmering, echoing guitars offer a gentle hazy accompaniment.
I like both Treemer and this EP, and certainly love the ambition and the sound they create at times, particularly the guitar combinations, and live I suspect they must be pretty awesome too. But actually I still think there’s a little bit more to come from them, because when they ‘nail‘ their sound (as they do on a few occasions here), the result is really stunning, totally euphoric and genuinely beautiful too. This is a band with quite a history, but I’m still hoping we'll hear a lot more from them.