:: Arrested Development - Among the Trees

Arrested Development

Unbelievably, it’s been around 13 years since Arrested Development attained seemingly overnight success with the release of their debut album 3 Years, 5 Months And 2 Days In The Life Of…, and you’d be forgiven for thinking that they were a spent force. But you’d be wrong, as this release is something of a tour de force, and a potent celebration of Mother Nature, friends, family, and lovers. Among The Trees kicks off with an intro that bears a worrying resemblance to Prince’s recent forays in quasi-religious space jazz narratives, but thankfully, like Prince, they don’t let ideology take precedence over good songwriting. Speech leads his latter day Family Stone through a gleeful, organic musical melange, so textured that, with open ears, it is possible to hear just about every genre; hip hop, funk, pop, soul, jazz, calypso, reggae… I could go on. Occasionally the usually astute lyrics get a little too cloying, and there are also one or two flat spots where tunes fail to ignite as promised. But carping suddenly feels churlish in the face of glorious tunes such as ‘Luxury pt. I’, an eloquent rejection of avarice, and ‘Honeymoon Day’, a joyous ode to a spouse. The effortless melody of ‘Wag Your Tail’, displays Speech’s deft touch when handling a more conventional song structure, proving once again that Arrested Development have the talent to ignore genre boundaries. A triumphant, if belated return.