Reading trio’s album reissued by Big Potato.
Big Potato’s quest for buried treasure continues with the re-issue of Coley Park’s 2004 album ‘Devil Tree’. In fact, the original release was titled ‘Down At The Devilin’ Tree’ in its earlier incarnation on Shady Lane Records; it has a different cover and one more track as well as an alternative running order.
Coley Park was a Reading-based trio comprising Nick Holton, Kevin Wells and Nick Portnell. ‘Devil Tree’ was produced by the band with Nick Halstead (Slowdive, Mojave 3) and each of the band members have some links with the Mojave 3 community. The original master tapes for ‘Devil’s Tree’ were discovered by Holton and Halstead and have been used for this re-issue.
The opening song ‘Milky Moon’ jumps straight in with a repetitive guitar figure over which a slide helps drive the tune. The pace is stepped up with ‘Eyes Are Only Water’ with a deceptively calm strummed acoustic introduction which soon morphs into distorted guitars and almost chanted vocal There is a psychedelic jangly phased underlay to ‘Scared of Heights’ over which are lain harmonies recalling mid-period Byrds. ‘Sleeping On Roads’ which shares its title with Halstead’s first solo record is country rock styled with lap steel / slide and slower paced with a harmony laden chorus. ‘Hidden Stars’ opens with acoustic guitar before emerging into a low-key electric with wah-wah and a soft-focus vocal. Meanwhile ‘Over The Moon’ is quirky English psych sounding with an almost clockwork feel that calls up comparisons with the likes of Syd Barrett and Love.
Side 2 is made up of a smaller number of longer tunes the first of which, ‘Sleeping Apart’ is a country rocker with lap steel and banjo which builds to a finale with various distorted guitars interplaying. The band take it down a notch for ‘Blue Hearts’, a slower-paced country-rock styled ballad with a wistful vocal. ‘You Won’t Get Out Alive’ announces itself with brushed percussion, guitars and banjo. The latter provides the engine for the song while another low-key vocal wheels around the music. It builds in the latter part to something of a climax that sounds like it could be a big tune in a live setting. Finally, ‘Across The Carpet Stars’ has a bigger beat and a full-on chorus and one of those lyrics where the sound of the words is bigger than the meaning. As befits an album closer, it climbs to a peak instrumentally to finish.
‘Devil Tree’ is an interesting mix of styles and instrumentation which recalls and references late 60s / early 70s British country rock outfits like Cochise and Brinsley Schwarz on the one hand and the quirky psych of Blossom Toes and BB Blunder but with a lo-fi aesthetic reminiscent of Pavement which may or may not be alluded to in the original label.
