Branches

Some bands make it look too easy. After day jobs and family commitments led to a brief hiatus, the four men of Branches returned to the studio, somehow stronger and more focused than ever before. These sessions produced the rolling grooves and breezy folk-rock charm of Grown in You, their second album for Contraphonic.

Branches' self-titled debut was recorded less than a year after the band's formation, yet it was a remarkably accomplished work, showcasing the singing and songwriting of all three founding members. After adding multi-instrumentalist Tim Joyce, Branches hit the road, focused their songwriting around Ben Schulman's psych-tinged pop-folk, and recorded a 19- minute freakbeat improv workout (Beard on Fire) to fill the gap between albums #1 and 2. All the while, Branches earned rave reviews for its diverse songwriting and quirky delights.

Although the band doesn't split the frontman duties as much on Grown in You, the song arrangements are more collaborative - each song becomes the product of four musicians' labor, rather than a revue of backing men behind each other's work. Thus each members' strengths become part of the whole - John Byce's jazzy stickwork and upbeat vibes, Ben Schulman's honey warble and pointed strumming, Seth Bohn's bubbly guitar lines and cheery harmonies, Tim Joyce's understated coloration and expert ear for arrangement. Recorded in just three days by Barry Phipps (Coctails), Grown in You is the sound of Branches planting their flag, confident in each statement and phrase of their sound.

Upcoming Shows

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Downloads / URLs

Press Photo (72dpi)
Press Photo (300dpi)
"Dusty Grits" (mp3)
"Sixteen Hours to Georgia" (mp3)
"(Save It For A) Cold & Rainy Day" (mp3)
www.branchestheband.com
myspace.com/branches

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  Available now in the ContraStore in CD format.

  Broken Branches. CON 061. Released: 02.01.07
  Tracklisting: 01. Introducing the Invisible Man 02. Wailing Beat 03. Dance Closer 04. 16 Miles to the Garbage Pile 05. BB Theme

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  Available now in the ContraStore in CD format.

  Grown in You. CON 057. Released: 09.12.06
  Tracklisting: 01. A Lot You Got to Holler 02. All Appeal 03. Garbage Pile 04. Dance a Little Closer 05. Digital Dance 06. An October City 07. Wailing Wall 08. Loaded Guns 09. Sixteen Hours to Georgia 10. Bundled Up in Covers

  Spacey, odd, and at times appealing, Branches have several musical limbs shooting out at once. Perhaps the highlight of the album is the slow-building rocker "Loaded Guns", which sounds like a cross between U2 and Lou Reed and weaves a very fine, intricate collage of sounds. Just as adorable is the soothing, bouncy "Sixteen Hours to Georgia", which has a trace of XTC or the Beautiful South in it. An album that is strong in ideas and execution. POP MATTERS
  
  From the noodly, chaotic opening of Branches' second full-length, Grown In You presents an aural image quite different from their bubbly-lettered, pastel-colored album cover. Instead, "A Lot You Got To Holler" is ironic, with a deep, hollow guitar that sounds like an elephant, coupled with a tinkling bell that conjures a ballerina - such dichotomies sound perfectly in place here. Throughout the CD, Branches integrates a lot of guitar lines that are each sparse enough not to overwhelm each other but independent enough to create some unusual polyphonic harmonies. Seth Bohn, Tim Joyce and Ben Schulman all add guitar virtuosity, as well as play other instruments, and all four members (number four being drummer John Byce) contribute on the vocals. The presence of a full band of musicians with an ear for holistic songs shows: Branches can enter a spacey, jamming frame of mind and merge into an innovative rumble of daze, with vibrato thrash tamed, yet straining at the leash.
  
  Lyrical subject matter covers everything from dancing ("The way we dance is out of style, Let's throw all our moves into the garbage pile"), being a lost child in a public place, and - perhaps the highlight - "Loaded Guns," where Schulman reaches the coarseness of a sedated Axl Rose when singing how "it feels real bad when you pull the trigger in my face." As the guitars and bells dance around in a repetitive jangle, though, Branches' quirkiness is at its peak in all its psych-tinged, immortal glory. INNOCENT WORDS

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  Available now in the ContraStore in CD format.

  Beard on Fire. CON 042. Released: 02.01.05
  Tracklisting: 01. Beard on Fire

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  Available now in the ContraStore in CD format.

  Branches. CON 037. Released: 09.14.04
  Tracklisting: 01. Do You Remember? 02. Glassy-Winged Sharpshooter vs the Madfly 03. (Save It For A) Cold & Rainy Day 04. Tame 05. Dusty Grits 06. Mary Gets Around 07. Heat Lamp Tramp 08. Match Makin' Beats 09. Slammer 10. Misery 11. Pick-Up Game

  Ben Schulman has a penchant for peppering soft melodies with deceptively cynical lyrics. On the xylophone-based lullaby "Tame," Schulman sings of wayward "kids smoking rock, and slinging rock, and singing rock" like a crestfallen young father. When the band does venture off on its own in "(Save It for a) Cold and Rainy Day" and "Heat Lamp Tramp," Schulman and Co. reveal fantastic pop instincts, distilling some of the best qualities of their obvious influences and adding their own, catchy spin. If Interpol is incandescent Joy Division, Branches is adolescent Wilco. And it sure will be fun to watch them blossom. ROCKPILE
  
  [Branches] have reduced their music to its pop essence. Songs like "Do You Remember?" and "Glassy-Winged Sharpshooter vs. The Medfly" retain a minimalist but balmy exuberance. You'll find, however, that a track like "Mary Gets Around," with its meticulous chimes and subtle guitar melodies, takes a more contemplative route vaguely reminiscent of Olivia Tremor Control's more, well, controlled compositions; with fall breezes meeting summer sun these days, seeing Branches perform now is perhaps another example of the right thing at precisely the right time. FLAGPOLE
  
  If there's ever a Garden State 2, Branches should get prime consideration for the soundtrack. Natalie Portman can tell the guy from "Scrubs" whose name escapes me that Branches will change his life. IMPACT PRESS