Description

The Christ Tree is an album by the American folk ensemble The Trees Community, released on Pomegranate Records in 1975. The Trees Community were a live-together Christian contemplative group who put their results into music. They were based at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York, where they were able to use a kind of rehearsal room that could have 10 to 40 people attending. Their project, “The Christ Tree” was performed during the seventies through a tour in the US and Canada. They created a meditation using musical signatures of many nations and cultures, while using over 80 musical instruments. The musical group varied between 14 and 7 people, with a vast core of 7 members.

The Trees Community was a Christian “contemplative community” that began in an old loft in New York circa 1970. Self-described as a “group of disparate teenagers and young adults looking for the truth” who had burned out on Christianity, the group began a series of spiritual explorations that brought them back to Christ and an association with the Episcopal Church. Those spiritual explorations ultimately manifested themselves as an enthralling form of folk music that combined elements of psychedelia, Indian ragas, African tribal music, and Steve Reich’s minimalism. Lyrically, the songs are almost all Biblical in origin, and draw heavily on the Psalms in particular, e.g., their “epic” explorations of Psalm 42 and Psalm 45. Think Joanna Newsom meets Sufjan Stevens: delicate harp melodies and sitar drones blend with trilling flutes, bells, and mandolins. Meanwhile, the group’s lovely male/female harmonies sing out such lyrics as “Your throne, O God, shall endure forever/ Your royal scepter is integrity/ Your love is for justice, your hatred for evil/ Your throne, O God, shall endure forever” with an equal mix of reverence and exuberance. The Trees’ music was re-issued a few years ago by Dark Holler • Hand/Eye. [Jason Morehead, Opus, October 3, 2022]

Stunning beautiful and immensely creative set from four guys and four gals, all adorned in clerical robes and looking fresh off a ‘60s Berkley curbside. There are some absolutely precious melodies within this moody mix of Eastern music, folk, avant garde and new age. A mere listing of the instruments ought to give an idea of the sound: folk harp, sitar, harmonium, pump organ, zither, recorder, flute, melodica, gong, bells, koto, cheng, belangi, sheng, so-na, flies and bees, Mexican bell wheel, tamboura, shenai… exactly where did they find all these things? Lengthy tracks like «Psalm 42» (12:28), «Parable Of The Mustard Seed» (7:15), «Psalm 45» (8:35) that shift in mood from delicate and contemplative to tribal and cacophonous. Unusual vocal stylings at times include monotone droning or excited chanting (or in the case of «Chant For Pentecost» rhythmically murmured in atonal harmonies at high speed). 60 Trappist monks from The Abbey Of Gethsemani join in the closing «Psalm 46». Very small pressing of 100 or so copies I’m told (a questionable figure since copies do seem to turn up on rare occasion). From the Cathedral Of St. John The Divine. A meticulously crafted masterpiece overflowing with originality. [Ken Scott, The Archivist, 4th edition]

Vinyl re-issued, Old Bear Records Reissued, 2020

The Trees Community was a 1970’s Episcopal religious order that created and performed original world music on over eighty instruments. They were first a group of searching young people exploring many faiths and cultures. By the beginning of 1971, they became a Christian community that explored new music as a form of communion and worship.

Later that spring, the group’s five women, six men, 2 cats, and small dog became nomads, living on a scripture coated bus. They called life on the road “a pilgrimage without a destination” though eventually the group shared their musical worship on organized church tours through the US and Canada.

The Trees’s musical meditation called The Christ Tree showcases the band’s style as both experimental and experiential. Ethereal voices and complex avant-garde arrangements of ancient sounding folk music are the hallmark of the Trees Community sound.

For years, only one published recording of their music has existed: The 1975’s The Christ Tree vinyl record. Over the decades this recording has garnered a ton of indie credibility, being referred to as an influence of the Fleet Foxes and Sufjan Stevens. The original vinyl pressings of The Christ Tree are rare and are purchased by collectors for hundreds of dollars.

In 2004, music engineer Timothy Renner of Dark Holler Arts digitally remastered the album from the original studio tapes and salvaged other Trees recordings, and with the official blessing of the Trees’ surviving members, released the music onto Compact Disk.

A new vinyl recording, however, although discussed at the time, wasn’t made. This past year, in 2020 (50 years after The Trees’ inception) we at Old Bear Records received the rights to the digital remastered The Christ Tree and can not wait to release this double vinyl LP to you through Old Bear Reissued!”

> iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-christ-tree/id272395781)

LP tracklist:

Side One
A1. “Psalm 42” – 11:23
A2. “Mustard Seed I and II” – 7:15

Side Two
B1. “Psalm 45” – 8:35
B2. “Bethlehem” – 0:40
B3. “Village Orchestra” – 1:45
B4. “Jesus He Knows” – 2:49
B5. “I Will Not Leave You Comfortless” – 1:25
B6. “Chant For Pentecost” – 1:31
B7. “Psalm 46” – 2:26

Note: Re-issued on CD. As well released as a Limited Edition 4CD Box Set by Hand/Eye in 2006. The box set includes a CD reissue of the rare “The Christ Tree” LP from 1975 (remastered from original tapes), a CD reissue of the even rarer cassette release “A Portrait of Jesus Christ in Music” (originally issued at the wrong speed – presented here at the proper speed for the first time), as well as live tapes, practices, and many previously unreleased songs. Complete with lyrics, a history of the group, photos, and much more. Includes liner notes by David Tibet of Current 93.