Oh Hiroshima were always a band I would describe as melancholy. But, like many other post-rock in the vein, there was a thread of hope running through their music. All Things Shining, their previous album, is my favorite of theirs exactly because it has that thread running through it, articulated in very interesting ways. Which is why it took me a while to wrap my head around And The Dead Tree Gives No Shelter and why this review is late. You see, this album is a bit more than melancholy; it's down right dark.
A lot of the sound is superficially similar to All Things Shining, that is post-rock melded with alternative rock, that style that has been all over the scene for the last few years and which Oh Hiroshima wield with an expert hand. Guitar lines play a major part in the majority of the tracks, beautifully underscoring the somber vocals and lit by scintillating synths to complete the atmosphere. The drums are hard hitting, used as emphasis for the progression of the tracks, whether with powerful kick drums or agile cymbals. It's all here, the sounds of post-rock/metal which first fueled the band's career, the transition into something more impactful that started their transformation, and that final, alt-tinged sound that made All Things Shining so good.
But the whole is darker than the sum of its parts. Its hard to put your finger on it but everything is just one or two (or three) shades darker; there are less sweeping moments of apotheosis or revelation and more winding, atmospheric passages filled with shadows. Check out "Skeleton Key" for example, one of my favorite tracks on the album. On the previous release, the middle of it would have been filled with some brighter, a more upbeat version of the verse or chorus. But here there is this big, groovy, somber riff right in the middle of the track followed by a bass heavy guitar part that makes the track feel like dissolution or dissipation.
Elsewhere there is not much relief with some tracks opting for an even deeper contrast between the contemplative verses and the explosive, yet still dark, choruses. The best example of this is probably "Broken Sunlight", which gets really close to offering something somewhat brighter but decides not to at the last minute, instead producing the noisiest chorus on the album. It's hard for me to tell whether Oh Hiroshima intended any of this but on tracks like "Broken Sunlight", it's hard to resist that conclusion. It feels like they were consciously building these tracks to follow the established formula for the band, only to then yank it away at the last moment in favor of something more oppressive and drenched in shadow.
Which is what ultimately led me to decide that I really like this release. It won't give me the emotional heights that All Things Shining did but it has something else for me, a type of perspective that I've been missing. To be honest, I just realized what it was right now as I was typing these sentences - Porcupine Tree. And The Dead Tree Gives No Shelter sounds gloriously influenced by the best era of Porcupine Tree, the Stupid Dream/Signify/In Absentia era. If you're after that kind of mood, groovy rock with plenty of progressive and alternative touches that doesn't shy away from sadness, loneliness, depression, and overall despondency, then And The Dead Tree Gives No Shelter is for you.