Stick to the Mystical I

by Tall Tall Trees

Overview

Following a more back-to-basics, less psychedelic third full-length in 2020's A Wave of Golden Things, Tall Tall Trees' Mike Savino spent some time while forced off the road due to the COVID-19 pandemic building out a home studio and further modifying his uniquely tricked-out six-string electric banjo (at this point dubbed the Banjotron 6500). While also working on writing new material, and eventually playing out a bit, he did a series of studio collaborations, including a single with Joyful Noise labelmates El Ten Eleven and an experimental bluegrass album with J.D. Pinkus (Butthole Surfers, Melvins). When the time came to record new solo tracks in his by then completed basement studio, he enlisted the help of drummer Josiah Wolf (Why?). The two quickly got so into improvising together that they started recording jam sessions and working up the results, with Savino ultimately scrapping prepared songs. With its music credited to Savino and Wolf, and lyrics and vocals by Savino, Tall Tall Trees' genre-bending, ardently psychedelic fourth album, Stick to the Mystical I, is an impulsive, trippy, and tuneful affair rooted in Savino's familiar looping techniques yet full of spontaneity. The album was mixed and mastered by none other than Kramer, who produced the Pinkus collaboration. "So Let Them Come" gets the party started with the Banjotron equivalent of an orchestra tuning -- what sounds like low upright bass, bowed banjo strings, sped-up loops of the latter, and more -- before a looped electric banjo riff, likely banjo-head hand percussion, and skittering drum kit lock into a groove. Confrontational lyrics call for allyship as animated rhythms and continual interjections (effects, backing choruses, and more) keep the track always living and breathing. Unpredictably, that song is followed by an oddball jazz instrumental ("A Finger Pointing at the Moon"), one of three instrumentals here, each of a different musical character (including the inexplicable, not-to-be-missed psych-lounge closer, "Groupon Massage"). While unpredictability may be a defining characteristic of Stick to the Mystical I, the set nevertheless has the warm, inviting quality that marks all Savino originals. That's true even of the melancholy, delay-heavy "Castle in the Sky," which involves a vehicle breakdown and nighttime commute on foot, but especially of contagious, upbeat anthems like "Feel Good!" ("It doesn't really matter what you look like if you feel good") and the aptly titled "This Is Just a Mountain Song" ("I can't stop smiling"). Surprisingly elaborate for being the work of two (with "additional elements" by Sleeping Bag's David Woodruff), the album subtly dazzles as it relates, uplifts, and likely leaves fans wanting more. ~ Marcy Donelson

Product Details

Release Date:	09/08/2023
Label:	JOYFUL NOISE RECORDS
UPC:	0602309897468

Tracks

1. So Let Them Come
2. A A Finger Pointing at the Moon
3. Castle in the Sky
4. Dust on the Windowsill
5. Feel Good!
6. This Is Just a Mountain Song
7. Sundrops
8. Bicycle Knight
9. Spirit of '95
10. Groupon Massage

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Tall Tall Trees   Primary Artist
Josiah Wolf   Loops,Triangle,Percussion,Tambourine
Mike Savino   Bass,Banjo,Casio,Loops,Vocals,Fuzz Bass,Bowed Banjo,Double Bass,Glockenspiel,Electric Banjo,Fretless Banjo,Bass (Electric),Guitar (Baritone)

Technical Credits

Josiah Wolf   Loop,Composer
Mike Savino   Loop,Composer,Engineer,Producer
Kramer   Mixing,Mastering