In her latest offering, ‘Trees For Clouds,’ Jessica Wolfbird crafts a sonic architecture that feels both grounded in the soil of experience and ethereal enough to drift into the stratosphere. The album functions as a cyclical meditation on growth, beginning with the rhythmic persistence of “New & Old & New (Never gets old…),” a track that immediately establishes the record’s primary tension between the familiar and the transformative. This sense of evolution is propelled by the rhythm section of Nathan Coles and Patty PerShayla, whose drumming and bass work provide a vital, muscular pulse to the first five compositions. On “Becomefortable,” this synergy is particularly evident, as Wolfbird navigates the messy, necessary friction of personal ease with a vocal performance that feels startlingly intimate.
The recording environments play their own silent characters in the narrative. The grander, resonant piano captured at Wicked Loon gives “Return to the Sky” a spacious, cinematic quality, allowing the listener to inhabit the vastness between the earth and the firmament. As the record transitions into “Mostly clouds & light,” there is a palpable shift in texture where Jackie Kalmink’s mixing allows the nuances of the arrangement to shimmer without losing their weight. The album moves from the abstract to the specific on “Belmont & Ashland,” heading south, a track that feels like a steady commute through memory, anchored by the grounded groove of the full band.
As the record reaches its midpoint with “The Light & the dark,” Wolfbird explores the inherent duality of the human condition through starker, more philosophical lenses. The final act of the album shifts toward a more insular, home-recorded warmth. Using MIDI piano and tracking vocals within the sanctuary of Wolfbird House, the concluding pieces feel like whispered secrets. Bryan Wolfbird contributes a hauntingly beautiful harmony on “Here,” a moment of collaborative stillness that highlights the album’s recurring theme of presence. By the time the final notes of “Golden” fade out, Nick Fogle’s mixing on these later tracks ensures that the transition from the full-band intensity of the opening to the sparse, golden-hour intimacy of the end feels like a natural descent. ‘Trees For Clouds’ is a testament to the beauty of the atmospheric, proving that the most profound insights often occur in the space where the branches meet the air.
Visit Bandcamp and Jessica’s Website for more information.
