One Little Plane – Into the Trees

Album Review by Sam Wiseman | 30 Apr 2012
Album title: One Little Plane
Artist: Into the Trees
Label: Text
Release date: 7 May

The second LP from One Little Plane, aka Chicago singer-songwriter Kathryn Bint, is a collection of drowsy, backwoods folk/Americana, underpinned by gentle fingerpicked guitar. Bint’s lyrically direct songs are most effective when allowed to breathe, bringing her rich, hushed vocals to the fore; Into the Trees feels less assured on its occasional forays into rockier territory, such as Nothing Has Changed, which embellishes the palette with handclaps and distorted guitar.

The record was produced by Kieran Hebden, but aside from the centrepiece Bloom – an incongruous piece of ambient electronica – his influence is markedly understated. It’s most successful on tracks like Simmer Down Simmer, which mingles intricate, metallic percussion with plucked guitar and overlapping vocal melodies. There’s a sufficient number of such moments to ensure that, while Into the Trees sometimes lacks emotional weight, it succeeds in subtly infusing an essentially familiar Americana sound with unexpected colour.

http://www.soundcloud.com/one-little-plane