Big Tree
Berkeley, California, United States | Established. Jan 01, 2014 | SELF
Music
Press
"Californian folk-pop quintet Big Tree, are a band of massive sounds, funky danceable chords and hypnotic vocal harmonies. Sounding passionate, cheerful and sensual simultaneously is a skill hard to perfect, but Big Tree has it down to a fine art." - Right Chord Music
"One of the best female voices in the Bay..."
"Infused with relentlessly singable mantras, raw and emotive vocals, and soul-bolstering instrumentals, the album is a barefoot walk on warm soil where so many others are trips to IKEA. If there is one argument against the over-tinkered immaculacy that pervades so much pop music, Little EP is it." - SF Deli Magazine
Berkeley, California’s Big Tree is gearing up to release their Little EP on November 6 (hey, that’s today!) and they’ve release this single from the EP.
This sweetly melodic track, “Time,” is bound to make you want to tap your feet and snap your fingers. The anthemic harmonies are one of the many attributes that makes Big Tree really stand out. The instrumentals are like one collective gust of wind rushing in to sweep you off your feet and twirl you around in the whirlwind that is Big Tree’s luscious indie rock groove. There’s something stunning about Big Tree’s style; it’s organic yet classic, but slightly stripped down just enough so each element shines through.
Big Tree’s Little EP is out now! It’s a great way to acquire some musical warmth in this oh-so-chilling season. - Indie Shuffle
"Wonder is what comes out of this curious group. Wonder. Big hearted wonder... Big Tree reminds us that the world is ready for experiencing." - IndieMonday.com
"[Big Tree]... a most unpretentious group melding sunshiney hippie enthusiasm (sample lyric: "I can hear the grass grow!") with epic post-rock breakdowns (strangely, it worked)." - New York Observer
"Big Tree is a genre-bending, five-piece bundle of energy... fresh and quirky." - Performing Songwriter Magazine
"Big Tree's music personally brings me back to the jams of the swingin' Summer of Love, albeit in a melancholy, jazz-tinged, utterly earnest way. No Elephant 6 revivalists of retropsychy sounds, Big Tree play a brand of grooving, poetic, sometimes knotty folk rock music. I've had the pleasure of catching them play live twice, and they're one of the finest young bands I've seen in ages. Their songs will get stuck in your head only shortly after your heart leaves your mouth from the impact of the perfect vocal harmonies." - Aural Wes, auralwes.blogspot.com, 4/3/09
"Big Tree... absolutely blew me away. Their sound was something of Explosions in the Sky / Broken Social Scene / Most Serene Republic. Epic post-rock elements mixed with proper rock and jazz and killer duet singing from excellent female fronted vocalists. They have a west coast summer tour on the horizon and I highly recommend going to see these guys. They really captured the intimacy of the venue and were one of the tightest bands I've seen in a long time. It was great to see that they have already established a great fan base that was present throughout the show." - omgnyc.blogspot.com, 4/26/09
"...Utterly enthralling music that is marked by the pitch-perfect female vocal harmonies of Kaila McIntyre-Bader and Morgan Heringer... Absolutely not-to-be-missed by anyone who has a love for original, new music."
- Ed Dufresne - The Times Argus
"So likeable it hurts." - Ka Leo O Hawaii, 9/10/08
Picking up their Home(here) EP, one gets the impression that Big Tree is somewhat of an organic band. The smooth screen-printed cardboard cover is minimal but effective, and the music contained within follows suit. Placed somewhere between folk and jazz and blues, Big Tree is a mesh of many genres. “The Concurrence Of All Things” is the EP’s opening track and it hits the band’s highlight traits.
Opening with an angular, pointed vocal part in a consistently varying time signature, the song is infinitely complex beyond what may appear a simple and straightforward tune. It is anything but. The song builds as it continues, adding multiple backup vocalists and slipping in a hefty guitar drone while they’re at it. By the end of “The Concurrence Of All Things”, one is hit, too, with various forms of pop, from experimental to orchestral.
Big Tree is a difficult one to classify, but an easy one to enjoy. - FensePost.com
Picking up their Home(here) EP, one gets the impression that Big Tree is somewhat of an organic band. The smooth screen-printed cardboard cover is minimal but effective, and the music contained within follows suit. Placed somewhere between folk and jazz and blues, Big Tree is a mesh of many genres. “The Concurrence Of All Things” is the EP’s opening track and it hits the band’s highlight traits.
Opening with an angular, pointed vocal part in a consistently varying time signature, the song is infinitely complex beyond what may appear a simple and straightforward tune. It is anything but. The song builds as it continues, adding multiple backup vocalists and slipping in a hefty guitar drone while they’re at it. By the end of “The Concurrence Of All Things”, one is hit, too, with various forms of pop, from experimental to orchestral.
Big Tree is a difficult one to classify, but an easy one to enjoy. - FensePost.com
Big Tree, a quintet out of Brooklyn, stole my heart immediately with pop gem “The Concurrence of All Things” off their forthcoming EP, Home(here), set to drop June 1. Their debut full-length came out in 2008, but this is the first I’m hearing of them, and I’m glad they didn’t fall off my radar.
“The Concurrence of All Things” at once demonstrates an amalgam of different styles for Big Tree, starting off with accessible and airy female vocals alongside piano, giving off that whole female singer/songwriter quirky style. But the song changes gears quickly with a sonic background; it becomes an explosion of sound with loud backing harmonies, pulsating guitars, and crashing percussion. After hearing “The Concurrence of All Things” it comes as no surprise that Big Tree recorded the three songs on the EP live, and only dubbed in a bit of synth and guitar parts afterward. - Knoxroad.com
Big Tree, a quintet out of Brooklyn, stole my heart immediately with pop gem “The Concurrence of All Things” off their forthcoming EP, Home(here), set to drop June 1. Their debut full-length came out in 2008, but this is the first I’m hearing of them, and I’m glad they didn’t fall off my radar.
“The Concurrence of All Things” at once demonstrates an amalgam of different styles for Big Tree, starting off with accessible and airy female vocals alongside piano, giving off that whole female singer/songwriter quirky style. But the song changes gears quickly with a sonic background; it becomes an explosion of sound with loud backing harmonies, pulsating guitars, and crashing percussion. After hearing “The Concurrence of All Things” it comes as no surprise that Big Tree recorded the three songs on the EP live, and only dubbed in a bit of synth and guitar parts afterward. - Knoxroad.com
We received this in the mail last week and obviously I could not resist that title so I had a listen. Everyone knows any songs that mention the Universe, planets, astronauts, rockets, and words like “concurrence” are cool. Turns out it was less science and Space-related than I was expecting but – you know what? – that’s not actually a bad thing. That means the song got here because it deserves to be here and got no extra points for featuring robots. It’s here because it’s sweet and catchy and wiggly and scrumdiddlyumptious, and exactly what the doctor ordered for sunny days when flights are cancelled and volcanos are still spewing fire into the sky and we are dreaming of the summer. - Letters have no Arms
We received this in the mail last week and obviously I could not resist that title so I had a listen. Everyone knows any songs that mention the Universe, planets, astronauts, rockets, and words like “concurrence” are cool. Turns out it was less science and Space-related than I was expecting but – you know what? – that’s not actually a bad thing. That means the song got here because it deserves to be here and got no extra points for featuring robots. It’s here because it’s sweet and catchy and wiggly and scrumdiddlyumptious, and exactly what the doctor ordered for sunny days when flights are cancelled and volcanos are still spewing fire into the sky and we are dreaming of the summer. - Letters have no Arms
“…whilst the traceable free-flowing rhythms of jazz are at the core of their sound, theirs is a cocktail that also embraces angular pop, pastoral folk, psych rock freak-outs and everything else they can lay their patchouli stained hands on." - Americana UK
“…remarkably captivating with vibrant harmonies and infectious, poetic lyrics.” - Magnet Magazine
“…whilst the traceable free-flowing rhythms of jazz are at the core of their sound, theirs is a cocktail that also embraces angular pop, pastoral folk, psych rock freak-outs and everything else they can lay their patchouli stained hands on." - Americana UK
Discography
Still working on that hot first release.
Photos
Bio
For five years, Big Tree wandered back and forth across the country, building homes on both East and West Coasts while spreading music to everyone in between. In January of 2012, Big Tree ended up in Berkeley, CA and hasn't left since, quickly becoming a staple of the blossoming Bay Area music scene.
Big Tree's music has spanned two full length records, two EPs, and their latest self-release, My, How Youve Grown, provides a snapshot of the band moving into the next stage of their evolution. Kaila McIntyre-Bader (vox, keys), Anna Ghezzi (vox, percussion), Luke Bace (bass, vox), Dan Pirello (guitar), and Matt Schory (drums) create songs that have been called "anthemic," "luscious," and "stunning," and tap into organic folk, greasy blues, and ambient indie rock. After 5 years of near constant performing, Big Tree's live show stands alone in it's own right, taking the audience on a journey that starts with the bopping of heads and the tugging of heart-strings and often ends with a sweaty dance party and raucous sing-alongs.
My, How Weve Grown was released September 17th, 2013, and the band will be playing these new tunes at their upcoming West Coast performances.
(Little EP) is a barefoot walk on warm soil where so many others are trips to IKEA. If there is one argument against the over-tinkered immaculacy that pervades so much pop music, Little EP is it.
-The Deli SF
The instrumentals are like one collective gust of wind rushing in to sweep you off your feet and twirl you around in the whirlwind that is Big Trees luscious indie rock groove. Theres something stunning about Big Trees style; its organic yet classic, but slightly stripped down just enough so each element shines through.
Indie Shuffle
Band Members
Links
