Scattered Trees: Sympathy

    I guess Scattered Trees is a very fitting name for this group, as all the members had but gone their separate ways in life, when the front man, Nathan Eisland's father died and he started writing a new album, Sympathy, yet to arrive April 5, 2011. For some reason, trees cannot really move. Maybe it is because their roots are stuck in deep, and that is how it is with the members of Scattered Trees, feeling that they could never replace any one of the group of six, so they all came back together for this project.
    Apparently Nathan Eisland moved to Chicago in 2003, and started writing one song a month, naming each song after each month. The resulting album was called Hollohills, completed in 2004 after returning to Minneapolis. I have not been able to find this online even to purchase, let alone listen. Then, again, Nathan moved to Chicago and started adding permanent members to Scattered Trees, who then became a part of their debut LP, Song for My Grandfather (2005). You can listen to this album in its entirety on their MySpace page, here (EDIT: no longer available on their MySpace). Heart of Glass EP came out in 2007 under the 4AM Record label, which can be listened to here if you sign up for a free 14-day trial (which I did not, so I have not listened). Scattered Trees also recorded a track, "Sparrow", for the Starbucks Off the Clock, Vol. 1 sampler.
    You might have noticed that Sympathy is not set to release until April 5, 2011, and wondering how I have a copy of it? Well, it seems as though it is fully available as a free download on Scattered Trees' Bandcamp website. Interestingly, however, if you attempt to go to their url (scatteredtrees.bandcamp.com), it comes up as saying there are no tracks there yet... But, if you add this to the end of the url, "/track/bury-the-floors" (minus the quotation marks), you can not only listen to that track, but download it for free by signing up for their mailing list! Also, each track can be retrieved this way by substituting its title (each word separated by hyphens) after: "/track/". If this is a glitch, and consequently illegally obtained, then I fear it is not my fault for point out what is clearly available on Bandcamp, which is controlled by the band. EDIT: Apparently, this was some sort of glitch, as each link to each successive tracks has been removed/fixed. You can no longer retrieve/listen to this album this way.
    Scattered Trees is sort of an emotive folk rock, as I have read, and so agree--though it is slightly folk. I suggest slightly, because not every song even hints at having folk elements. They are often merely acoustic guitar and not necessarily of a folk style, but more so typical of every solo artist that likes to pick up a guitar and create songs by themselves. The emotive aspect could be considered Emo, because the lyrics are very thoughtful and heartfelt, especially concerning the death of Eisland's father, revealing personal sorrow. The group as a whole has related in interviews that making this album has been much more of an emotional experience, in the sense of the depth of emotion the music requires and has created simultaneously.
    At their core, Scattered Trees is simply another indie rock band, making some waves in Chicago. I hear some really cool ingenuity in their soothing ballades and laid back gentle style, while a few songs delve more into the normal realm of rock and subsequently are not as potent. The "slower" songs are definitely where Scattered Trees shines. They've also been compared to the band Ours, which I've never heard (sadly I admit that without taking the time to check up on this fact), but I hear Barcelona somewhat in there, in the singers voice and the melodies.
    I've uploaded "Five Minutes" (yes its 5 minutes long too), the closing track, which reveals a good bit about the style of their music: the slight pulse, the slight ambiance, the mellow vocals, the building sound, the bit of rocking out and the fade at the end. I hope you enjoy this band many are raving about, but few people seem to actually know about.