CD: Rock review: The Unbending Trees, Chemically Happy (Is the New Sad) (original) (raw)

"I'm sad, ain't I?" concludes Unbending Trees singer Kristof Hajos on You Are a Lover, an unlikely MTV hit in their native Hungary, and he's not wrong. He's also often melancholic, a little introspective and - by the sounds of his husky voice - perhaps a bit under the weather. The Trees produce mournful but often majestic songs saved from gloom by some darkly comic touches; Leonard Cohen fans may want to investigate. On Messiah, Hajos - a fallen friar, which perhaps lends some depth to his depression - sings "Oh Prozac Messiah, you're here," before later adding like a hungry child, "May I have another?" The spartan arrangements (there is often only piano) highlight Hajos's dissection of failed relationships and unflinching dejection. At their best - as on Overture, a collaboration with Tracey Thorn - they are utterly beguiling.