Ki The Tree is a three piece, progressive, instrumental rock band from Saskatoon Saskatchewan. This Canadian trio takes influences from math rock/post rock bands like Covet, Chon and Elephant Gym and blends it with raucous ambient soundscapes to create a firm contrast between comfort and anxiety. Their debut album, Cat Mask, was released on January 31st 2018.
Though prominently featuring clean guitars, Ki The Tree doesn’t stride away from getting loud and aggressive when the moment calls for it. The jolting rhythmic blasts from songs like “Prospero” give way to experimental noise tracks that show a glimpse into the emotional content of the album, largely focused on coping with death and creating oneself anew after facing deep trauma.
The band sat down with us and counted down the records that have influenced them the most, one way or another.
BRETT (DRUMS)
Coheed And Cambria- In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3
“This Album Really opened my eyes up to Depth vs. Complexity, both in story/lyrical writing, as well as in musical performance.
This album is really deep in a lot of ways, and it’s layering of instruments and vocals make it such a large experience. It introduced me to a style of Rock/Punk that I hadn’t experienced prior, and it certainly molded how I look at music within those genres. My favourite track from this album is probably ‘Blood Red Summer’. Not really sure what the lyrics are about (there’s a story that goes with the album, but none of these lyrics are really featured in it), but MAN is it a good summer jam.”
Relient K – Mmhmm
“Relient K is a Christian punk band that has a lot of early Green Day influences. While I don’t like Green Day, this band (and more specifically this album) really got me having fun playing drums. The lyrics are witty and fun, the music ranges from a light-hearted thrashy-ness to melancholic and relatable. I think I listened to this album probably around 300 times front to back during highschool, and I could always find something that spoke into my life at the time on each play through. I think my favourite song is probably ‘The Only Thing Worse Than Beating a Dead Horse Is Betting on One’ (I love long song titles). When I first heard the first section of it, the drums were so fast and everything was so wild, followed by the super quick lyrical delivery, I remember listening back to the song probably 3 or 4 times immediately after my first listen. Fun lil punk track, that one.”
SPENCER (BASS)
A Lot Like Birds – Conversation Piece
“A Lot Like Birds is one of the bands that taught me that you don’t need to compromise in any way musically. You can have interesting and complex instrumentals across every instrument and have it feel cohesive. Then layer on alternating and intertwining sung vocals and screams. On top of all that there is the meaningful and often heartbreaking lyricism brought by Cory Lockwood. I feel like other bands do one or two of these elements well, but A Lot Like Birds has the whole package and it’s all present in this album and done perfectly. No Place is probably my favourite work of theirs but Coversation Piece is what I seem to have have taken the most inspiration from.”
KEEGAN (GUITAR)
Mewithoutyou – Ten Stories
“These guys cover a lot of bases on this album. Everything from sweet and dreamy guitar melodies to out-right catharsis. Aaron Weiss has some of the most mesmerizing lyricism ever, and there is nothing more satisfying than his delivery.”
Snarky Puppy – We Like It Here
“I remember my roommate and I catching on to Snarky with this album and seriously reconsidering everything we thought we knew about music. Ensemble bands that weren’t orchestral weren’t even on my radar. Masterful playing and writing. It really introduced me to a much broader palate of music and hugely inspired me to hit the books.”
Chad Vangaalen – Shrink Dust
“This is the reason I’m comfortable putting 3 minute noise improvisations at the end of a song. Be weird. It took a long time for me to dive into Chad’s music, being introduced to it through some of his more palatable tracks from the past. When I really sat and listened to this record and found out how utterly strange it were I was hooked.”
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Aesop Rock – Skelethon
“There is an unparalleled, honest, vulnerability tangled up in this album. It’s another huge one for me in the sense of being o.k with being not o.k and leaning into things that the listener might not be comfortable with.”
Chon – Newborn Sun
“This record seriously re-invigorated my love of guitar playing. I had basically given up any sort of theory/technical practice, nothing motivated me to play and study guitar, until Brett (drummer for Ki) put me on to Chon. Love em or hate em, this EP rips so hard.”
Elephant Gym – Work
“The vibiest collection of music. I’ve pulled so much influence from this record. Bass driven math with infinite groove. This is my feel good/road trip jam. This is such a hugely different flavour from the American math scene, probably because they are about one molecule away from being a funk group. Its charming to say the least.”
Father John Misty – Fear Fun
“Mellow out for the last one. Fear fun has an oddly compelling mixture of good vibes, soothing vocal melodies and some serious self-deprecation. It’s a good reminder that honesty and believability is so important in music.”
Listen to Ki The Tree’s debut album Cat Mask below:
And check out their music videos:
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