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TREE HOUSE shares new single ‘Water Fountain’ + announces debut EP ‘Into The Water’ due 19th September via Memorials of Distinction

August 16, 2017

TREE HOUSE

SHARES BRAND NEW SINGLE ‘WATER FOUNTAIN

+ ANNOUNCES DEBUT EP ‘INTO THE OCEAN’ DUE 19TH SEPTEMBER VIA MEMORIALS OF DISTINCTION

London based Tree House shares brand new single ‘Water Fountain’, the first single to be taken off the forthcoming debut EP Into The Ocean due 19th September via Memorials of Distinction. Tree House is the the solo effort of American-born, London-based Will Fortna who aims to deliver beautiful music laced with influences from his varied music taste. ‘Water Fountain’ is a spacey and melodic track full of layered textures of sound and lyrics that play with emotion and image.

He says on the track: ”This is the first and so far only recording on which I’ve had other musicians contribute.  The players on the song are the members of the live band and we recorded most of it live to 1/2 inch tape in my bedroom, so it has a real warmth to it and gives the clearest impression of how we play together in a live setting. Unlike some of the other songs on the EP, the lyrics of ‘Water Fountain’ don’t paint any individual narrative or theme.  Instead, I wanted to use them impressionistically, in the same way as the music – giving colour to a particular feeling or image.

 

Tree House is the project of London-based Will Fortna. Due to the thin walls, uptight roommates, and lack of equipment in his Brooklyn apartment in 2014, Tree House began as a decidedly minimalist project. Tree House’s name is a nod to both Arthur Russell, an early and enduring influence, and the aforementioned windowless loft space where Fortna taught himself how to sample drums and play the keyboard, composing using headphones, keyboards and hushed vocals. Over time, Fortna has developed a less constrained approach, reflecting the eclecticism of his musical interests, from Pharoah Sanders to Chairlift; Mulatu Astatke to David Byrne.

Into the Ocean, a debut six-track EP, non-chronologically catalogues Tree House’s evolution, and ‘Water Fountain’ is perhaps the culmination of Tree House’s development to date, featuring members of the live band for the first time on record. Its spacey, groovy verses give way to breezy ambient passages, only to return to foot-tapping danceability. Fortna’s voice is clear and sweet, rhythmically inviting us to “take a deeper step into the tide”, before floating somewhere “away from time and space”.

The rest of the EP traces Fortna’s wide musical interests, from the warm afrobeat guitars of ‘Warm Blue Feeling’, to the interwoven string arrangements of the title track, written in the midst of an infatuation with 1970s New York minimalism of Steve Reich and Philip Glass.  ‘Classical Symphony’, the first song written under the name Tree House, evidences the project’s early approach, where rhythm, harmony and instrumentation are stripped to their bare essentials, allowing Fortna’s voice to softly glide over the top.

 

The EP is due 19th September via Memorial Of Distinction and will be available digitally and on cassette.

 

‘Into The Ocean’ Tracklisting:

1. Nonsense
2. Water Fountain
3.  Cannonball
4. Warm Blue Feeling
5. Classical Symphony
6. Into The Ocean

 

Artwork:

 

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