Just Imagine
In what can be seen as an interesting paradox, spending time on your own in Nature’s embrace can put your gloomy urban life ruminations into perspective. You might be alone with your thoughts, but the contact with ancient entities such as rivers or centennial trees is a profoundly humbling -and comforting- experience. From the view of a nomadic musician like Marcus Friman (the singer-songwriter behind Land of Trees), the consequence of this realisation is a song like “Just Imagine”.
Following his successful label debut on Rexius Records in 2017 with There’s a Reason, Land of Trees now presents us with this new outlook on his outer -and inner- expeditions. In a way, he shares the awe-inspiring observations of centuries of scientists when realising our place in the Universe transcends our individual ego. In Friman’s own words: “If you feel like you can’t trust anyone around you, nature is always there. Life goes on outside of our social circles and ordinary individual problems.” This might make you feel helpless, lacking any kind of power over your own existence. It isn’t a nihilist song, though, for as Friman explains: “What we do have the chance to control is our minds, our actions. We can choose to see “things” in a positive, life affirming and uplifting way instead of taking the easy way out and choose to hate, blame and lie our way through the little time we do have on this planet.”
Both the words and the music invite you to a carefree, unassuming experience: Apart from some instrumental details here and there (a banjo and some minimal percussion), all that’s needed to convey the message are a guitar and a very personal, sincere vocal performance. All of this refined by the production of Alexander Asp, whom we’ve heard on acoustic anthems like “Cold Winter Love”.
Land of Trees’ sound reminds us of acts like Stu Larsen or Passenger, yet with an unmistakable candidness both reflected on his lyrics and instrumental approach. Previously featured on alexrainbird, IndieFeed, Wave of Good Noise, among others, songs like “Get Rid of Your Ghosts” and “There’s a Reason” have captured the attention of audiences all over Europe and USA. His music was also featured on “Vinterpratet 2017” on Swedish Radio and the non-profit initiative “Ung Cancer”.
“Just Imagine”, an invitation to leave the tangled mess of yourself and “put faith in the mountains to stay where they are”, is coming to digital platforms in February 2018.
Cover art by: Albert Frykman