Vertigo of Flaws: Emancipation of the Dissonance and Temperaments in Irrational Waveforms

Arizona's Trees Speak reined in the more excessive impulses of their debut with their next three albums, which all arrived in quick succession during 2020 and 2021. Their fourth album in such a short period is sprawling, to put it lightly -- it runs for nearly an hour-and-a-half, it has 29 tracks (31 counting the bonus 7" with the vinyl edition), and its title is Vertigo of Flaws: Emancipation of the Dissonance and Temperaments in Irrational Waveforms. Yet the tracks themselves are mostly short, and the band remain incredibly focused, even as they're venturing further out than they've ever gone before. The Krautrock and cinematic influences of their previous albums remain present, but this one seems far more influenced by vintage electronics of all stripes, from the alien soundscapes of the Forbidden Planet score to Tangerine Dream's iconic soundtrack work from the '80s. It almost seems like the audio equivalent of hyperlink cinema, as each successive track sounds vastly different than the last, yet it's all connected in some way, and it makes more sense with repeated listens. The band excel at channeling '60s psych vibes through a retro Broadcast/Ghost Box filter, with touches of Baroque pop and film noir influences, and there are also moments filled with hazy effects, making them sound like they're sourced from a crackly old film reel. The tracks with Motorik rhythms blast off into the sky, while the more atonal, discordant pieces are like movements from 20th century avant-garde symphonies. Vertigo of Flaws is Trees Speak's most colossal work yet, demonstrating that the group's ambitions are even greater than their previous work indicated. ~ Paul Simpson