Releasing debut album Natural Habitat back in July via Clue Records/EMI North, Leeds’ Treeboy & Arc share the video for album opener ‘Midnight Mass’ ahead of their headline tour which starts later this month. The band have also been nominated by the Youth Music Awards for ‘Best Original Track’ for ‘Retirement’.
One of the oldest songs on the album, ‘Midnight Mass’ was the first where the music pivoted around the synth parts. James and Ben had just bought a MicroKorg with pretty much no idea how to use it, so the result came from experimentation.
Ben further expands, “The lyrics are about how the media has changed and also had to adapt to survive in the modern era. TV and Radio are being slowly overtaken by YouTube and Netflix. We have TV channels that show 24 hour rolling news yet most people get their information from Facebook or Twitter. Simple quotes are taken out of context and twisted to fit a certain narrative and clickbait headlines intice us to read an entire article that bears no relevance to the headline whatsoever. Cancel culture is crazy too, it’s mad that you could post a tweet before going to bed and wake up to your life in complete ruin. Everything happens so fast and is so constant and that’s the same feeling I got from the song, so I thought these lyrics would be a good fit.”
During lockdown, Jimbo bought a tandem off Gumtree that ended up collecting dust until he had the idea that they do a music video where they ride it around Leeds as up until that point he had only used it about 3 times after going all the way to Birmingham to collect it.
The video was filmed by Charlie Featherstone (CAP Media), who was involved with the retirement video too, and Rosie Day, who captured their 10 mile + ride around Leeds where they found themselves being stopped mainly by elderly people saying “it’s been a while since I’ve seen one of them!”.
The tandem is now back in Jim’s basement collecting dust again. So if anybody wants a tandem then please get in touch!
Treeboy & Arc start their UK headline tour on 17th October until 27th October, as well as slots at Cadiff’s SWN Festival on 21st October, and Nottingham Karma Weekend on 28th October.
Their tour sees them perform in Brighton, London, Margate, Bristol, Manchester, Glasgow, and Leeds, with support at various dates from DLD, Divorce Attorney, Bo Gritz, bloody/bath, SOFT, HAAL, DEK, Conscious Pilot, Post Ironic State, and their Leeds hometown show adds Autobahn, Moxco White DJ (Square Ball), plus special guests.
Tickets On-Sale Now HERE
Natural Habitat is their most ambitious release to date. With the opportunity to really experiment in the studio with Matt Peel, the songs recorded became darker, harsher and more brutal sounding than any of the original demos the band had recorded themselves. With two singers and two lyricists, the meaning of each song feels completely separate from the last. Each song has its own story and meaning, from anxiety to the supernatural, whether disguised by cryptic language or told as “matter of fact”, the album discusses the full spectrum of emotions.
The band pits pop songs against avant-garde, kraut-punk noise to see which elements come out on top, perfectly setting the scene for abstract tales of disillusionment, loss, ill health and the occasional Bob Mortimer obsession. Typically spoken word-esque vocals are spat atop these vivid soundscapes with the vocalists choosing to prioritise lyrics and feeling before melody and harmony. Though often dark and sinister sounding, you don’t need to listen hard to hear the tongue-in-cheek wit and cynicism in their deliveries that is so often associated with the North of England.
