No tree can grow to heaven unless its roots reach down to hell
Telos, 2021
10/10
Listen to No tree can grow to heaven unless its roots reach down to hell
The multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter Drew Danburry has put out a lot of music since the early 2000’s under his own name while also playing with and touring with several other bands, and here he’s aligned with Jed Jones, Nick Dorsey, Ryan Scott, Will Pasternak, A.R. Herrin, and Josaleigh Pollett as Icarus Phoenix, where a very diverse form of indie-rock emerges.
“Madam Seawright” starts the listen with soft acoustic guitar and dreamy singing, as a thicker setting settles in with an indie-rock meets folk-rock approach that’s quite exciting and recruits Pollett on vocals, and “Jan Sessions” follows with a more firm and melodic display of pop friendly ideas amid some rootsy flavor, too.
A listen where each track shines in its own unique light, “Sleep, For Ian Aeillo” alternates between crunchy rock and a cautious display, while “Eddie King” gets jangly and even a bit scrappy with some garage rock nods under the harmonic singing. “Kill Holiday, for Steven Andrew Miller”, my favorite tune, is a hazy, surreal moment that parallels the greatness of Kill Holiday’s “In Closing”, and is definitely on par with their later, fantastic work.
Nearing the end, “All The Same” brings both ruggedness and melody into a smooth climate that benefits much from Dorsey’s crisp drumming, and “Dogma of no dogma, non-dogmatically” exits the listen with an acoustic guitar and an airy flute that evolves into a full band execution of timeless, thoughtful, imaginative songwriting.
There’s a lot of people playing this sort of intimate yet playful folk-ish, indie music these days, but few are doing it as well as Danburry and company. You might even consider No tree can grow to heaven unless its roots reach down to hell this decade’s version of In The Aeroplane Over The Sea, and I think we can all agree that’s about as big a compliment as you’re likely to see anywhere.
Travels well with: Brad Byrd- Where Were You When The World Stopped?; T. Hardy Morris- The Digital Age