The last few weeks, I’ve become pretty smitten with the Dead Trees. The band’s backstory is relatively simple: After toiling around Boston for a few years, it self-released an EP, listened to a lot of Pavement, befriended Albert Hammond Jr. (of the Strokes) and signed a deal in Japan before getting any recognition state side. Less than a year ago, the four piece (singer/guitarist Michael Ian Cummings, guitarist Matthew Borg, drummer Noah Rubin and bassist Tad Dahlhoff) relocated to Portland, and their debut full-length King of Rosa is set for a Nov. 25 release on Milan Records. King of Rosa is a scruffy, loose pop record, and I’m excited to catch these guys sometime soon. The only problem: they never seem to play in town.

But why won’t a band that made a conscious decision to move to Portland ever play here? The ‘Space says they played a NE house show on Tuesday, but come on; did they really expect me to come out on election night? So in advance of the band’s just launched fall tour (which culminates, finally, with a local stop on December 13), I’ve dug up a few videos for a primer on a band that I was initially skeptical about.

First up, we’ve got a bare, stripped down acoustic take on album highlight “Killer in Me,” sung on a sunny Silverlake porch. I used to live in L.A., and despite what I usually tell people, I kind of miss it. It’s nice to listen to record on your porch in November without a space heater:

Next, we’ve got the slightly silly, sorta professionally made clip for single “Shelter,” here in its initial state on the Fort Music EP. The video collects two of my favorite things (sammy’s and whistling) plus a little fake gore, as our hero is chased by a gang of sandwiches before the Dead Trees step in to save the day:

It turns out the Trees have played in Portland! At Lola’s room? Here’s the four piece doing “No One Told Me About Her,” which is anchored by a sturdy bassline and some cool guitar feedback during the finale:

Links:
The Dead TreeSpace
“Shelter” COTD

Photo by Roman Titus