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Dec 02, 2011 Issue #38 - 10th Anniversary Issue By Ryan Reed

These days, when critics say a certain band “sorta sounds like The Beach Boys,” they usually mean Soft Bulletin-era Flaming Lips or solo Panda Bear. And while this Danish quartet’s psychedelic debut full-length does bear a likeness to those critical heartthrobs, there is a certain Brian Wilson attention to detail throughout these 12 sonic marvels that emphatically separates Treefight for Sunlight from their peers.

“A Dream Before Sleep” is a misleading title for the sugar-rush that catapults you into their universe. Sure, there are twinkling sound effects and stately piano, but I haven’t heard a wall of harmonies this jolting and densely layered with “ooh-ahh” precision since my last spin of SMiLE. The euphoric “You and the New World,” with its pogo-ing keyboard rhythms and reverb heaps, gives off a whiff of recent Animal Collective—if only they bothered playing their instruments. Meanwhile, “Facing the Sun” is an avalanche of color, arguably the year’s melodic masterpiece: glockenspiel blasts, sugary acoustic guitar fingerpicking—descending waves of melody assaulting your eardrums from every possible angle.

They could easily coast on hooks alone, but these tracks pack an equal amount of muscle—Christian Lindinger (bass) and Niels Kirk (keys) play like prog-rock titans swept up on an indie shore. Lyrically, these are bits and pieces of cosmic debris (“You’re at the stars, on your way to Mars” goes the chorus to the grooving “The Universe is a Woman”), but it hardly matters. Treefight for Sunlight have absolutely nothing to say, but hearing them try is nothing short of breathtaking. (www.treefightforsunlight.com)

Author rating: 8/10