Here Come the Rattling Trees

Wryly observant character studies are linked by wistfully understated instrumental interludes, with harpsichord, vibes, nylon-strung guitar and single-finger organ tumbling contentedly against each other like smalls in a twin-tub.

A lovely understated album. [Feb 2016, p.75]

Here Come the Rattling Trees is a wonderfully delightful thing to have on in the background while doing just about anything. As a cohesive statement, though, the album falls short of gelling, piecemealed as it is from fragments of a larger artistic vision.

O'Hagan proves here once and for all that he's up to the job.

Absent any actors to push the narrative along, Here Come the Rattling Trees can drift by during its more passive instrumental passages, but never less than pleasantly so.

Revealing Rattling Trees as a soundtrack from the jump puts the Llamas at an advantage and a disadvantage. It helps to explain the structure of the album, which kicks off with an overture that touches on all the melodic themes to be heard later, followed by quick instrumental bits that precede actual songs. But without the full text of the play or a chance to see it before hearing the music, these pleasant-but-slight songs become more negligible.

Though unlikely to win legions of new fans, this is another impeccably crafted psychedelic rock record sure to please fans of the genre.

An album whose gentle charms fades a little before the final curtain falls. [Feb 2016, p.93]