The Treedome’s debut album, The Comfort In Being Sad, is the perfect breakup album – it radiates such an aura of longing; it’s that midnight kiss that never arrives. The album will take you to a time slot of its own – where remnants from the past integrate with a newfound unique vocal tone of seduction and beauty that delivers the perfect finishing touch for the group. The album pulls a lot of textures from other genres alongside transcendent vocals that whisper and echo off the vibrations of a jazz / blues undertone. The band hails from Latinx rooted backgrounds and they’re not stopping short in traversing the horizon of what defines success both in music and cultural definitions alike. Considering this album just dropped and they’re already working on the next, I’d say success is long deemed for members of The Treedome.
The album opens with track, “Why Do I Try?” which instantly puts you in a lackadaisical dreamscape where the failures and pangs of love are gently sought over. While singer Gabriela Hernandez allures us to share feelings we’ve all been hung up on: ‘Sad to say I’ll miss you/ Where did I go wrong?’ It’s the perfect reflection and setup for the next track, “Beauty of It,” which was written about something we all know too well – our first love. One of my favorite elements of the songs on this album is that they have a tendency to pick up and get even sweeter as you near the finish – typically consisting of heavy instrumental, orchestral finale-style endings to the tracks. It’s the perfect pick me up and ending touch to the heart-wrenched stories the tracks take us through.
Track “Nothing Special” lands mid album, and it dreamily ponders all the finite moments of self- rejection we fixate on and can never quite accept nor comprehend. The way Hernandez’s voice and Perez’s trumpet playing tether round’ one another and tease each other to come out, makes it an addictive listen and one of my favorites off the album. All the heavy feels, being brought upon externally by someone else or internally amongst ourselves, resonate all the same in the end – ‘You’ll always ask for more/ You know I can’t control/ what more could I have done…’ Ah, those sweet questions we never quite get the answers to.
The ending track of the album, titled “Flutes,” is a summation and walk through of the albums trajectory: while a love long lost is still a searing pain that scorches deep, it’s remnants are also a composition of beauty. Translated through the gift of Hernandez, more so a gentle whisper in your ear…a rapid heartbeat only you can hear. ‘I couldn’t be there/ I don’t know if you cared/ it doesn’t matter.’ The Comfort in Being Sad will take you on a journey of continuously pondering the questions in love that remain etched in our souls and on our minds when we never truly get the answers or understanding we’re reaching for.
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