By Joel Schomberg

When I first heard Trees and Timber’s single “Liar’s Den,” I knew I wanted to hear more of the band. The song first grabs you with a steady beat and bass line that gets your head bobbing; a couple of mysterious guitar licks pull you in further and escalate the intro, until the song breaks into a swaying tune with melodies that soothe your mind. But while the song is upbeat and pure power-pop charm, the song maintains an edginess that compliments its introspective lyrics, exploring themes of identity and societial dynamics—the absurd game we’re all trapped in, whether by choice or not.

After listening to “Liar’s Den” on repeat, I decided to reach out to Trees and Timber to see if I could get a sneak peek of their upcoming album, Uncle Stanley, set to release on July 12th. The band was kind enough to invite me over for a beer around the firepit and a chance to catch their rehearsal. Trees and Timber’s lineup features Gwen Lewandoski layign down the groove on bass, Joe Baker leading the charge with his vocals and guitar and Paul Rybicki keeping everything tight on the drums.

I was surprised to learn that the band had been around over a decade. In 2014, they released the album Hello, My Name Is Love, which garnered a fair amount of local press coverage, including an article in Weekly Volcano. They’ve also played a lot of great shows, sharing stages with Pacific Northwest legends like Dead Moon, Girl Trouble and Krist Novoselic’s band Giants in the Trees. Then they went silent for seven years. With what seemed like a trajectory of growing success, I wondered what had happened.

When I asked Joe about it, he put it bluntly: “I went crazy.” Joe was struggling with an anxiety disorder. He shared that, by the end of 2017, he felt as though his mind was no longer under his control. The real issue, he explained, was that as his condition worsened, he was too afraid to acknowledge it or talk about it with those who cared about him. This turmoil upended his life, isolating him from loved ones and ultimately bringing the band to a halt. On their upcoming album, there’s a track called “Superghost” that Joe wrote during those early, disorienting days of losing control.

It took time, but Joe sought out help and began learning to cope with his anxiety. “It’s a long process,” he says, “but I don’t pretend everything’s fine anymore.” As part of his healing and a way to occupy himself during the pandemic, Joe started building a studio at his South End home to begin making music again. When Paul came over to help him finish the work, it only seemed natural to for them to start playing together. “When Gwen was willing to join too, it felt completely right immediately. Personally, it’s helped me immensely. Not just because I love being around them, but also because I had forgotten how therapeutic it is to make our music. We play with a lot of emotion, which sort of cleans out the gunk.”

Uncle Stanley mostly comprises songs from a time when the band was at a high but then ended in a crash. It’s an album that almost didn’t see the light of day. Fortunately, their engineer, Jeff Southard, preserved the recordings. With renewed perseverance and a deep love for each other, the band decided to jump back in the ring and start writing new songs, bringing Uncle Stanley to life.

The album gets its name after a mysterious uncle that showed up out of nowhere in a young Paul’s life and gifted him and his brother a wad of cash before passing away. It was this money that afforded Jeff to buy his first drum set. The intrigue and humor of the story extends through this record. Uncle Stanley is a solid indie pop album with glam rock influences, delivering a fast-paced ride from start to finish. The lyrics, written by both Gwen and Joe, are emotional and self-reflective, yet crafted in a way that invites listeners to find their own interpretations. Listening to Uncle Stanley, I catch echoes of the Beatles in some moments and hints of the Violent Femmes in others, but the sound that Trees and Timber create is distinctly their own. showcasing their unique musical identity.

The aforementioned “Liar’s Den” is an instant hit in my book. The second single, “Any Place Love,” swells with a sad tenderness, while “All the Best” feels like charging into battle. Interestingly, when I asked Joe about it, he described “All the Best” as having a typical horror movie ending. “I’ll leave the interpretation up to whoever listens to it,” he said. “I was just putting words down with a general idea and seeing where it went.”

Check out Trees and Timber on Bandcamp and discover your own interpretations of their music. The full album Uncle Stanley, will be available to stream and on vinyl starting July 12th. Also, don’t miss their album release show that Friday evening at the New Frontier Lounge.