My Review: David Potts - The Blue Tree / The Red Tree (2 albums)

David Potts - The Blue Tree / The Red Tree (2 albums)

How funny life is, when it fills the planet with existences that seem to have little visibility and then immediately throws them back into the streets, giving them a new chance. Such is the case with the protagonist of this piece of writing, an unquestionable talent, capable of creating, with his imaginative and skilful versatility, two albums released at the same time, almost as if to plug the hole of an absence that in the Old Scribe's opinion seemed like blasphemy, given the value of these twenty-one compositions in total. Two trees, two father figures, owners of this artist's path, with only partly similar connotations, see the musician (guitarist and bassist) and singer move between alternative, indie pop, sunnier folk, elegant and light dance.

In 1989 in Manchester, the bass player of Joy Division formed a band called Revenge. One of their members, who replaced the original guitarist David Hicks, is the subject of this review. After that experience with Peter Hook, the two of them set up the Monaco project, which was so successful with the track What do you want from me, a starter for the set of dance attitudes they wrote.

And after several years, here we are talking about David Potts' solo debut with the albums The Blue Tree and The Red Tree. 

The Blue Tree appears as a description of a spring day around this tree, with songs that fly like birds happy to be back in those places, free to move with joy and able to contaminate the enthusiasm with their youthful exuberance.

The Red Tree seems, on the other hand, to be a collection of songs written by those same birds with a few more years, where maturity also shows itself in more angular approaches, where the rhythm remains high but with more decision in tracing the path of those flights. One gets the impression that one is on the verge of autumn, but with the desire to still have those smiles that only spring can distribute.

In both works the writing is astonishing, delving into the heavenly territories of the 1970s and continuing into the next decade in the aspect of eclectic, danceable songs. The guitar, when it lends itself to exhibiting short but effective solos, demonstrates its intention to capture the meaning of the compositions, further refining them, making us vibrate and fly with our minds around those two trees, which, at the end of listening to the two discs, seem to be long-standing friends.

One is able to smile, laugh, think, dance in a sky that seems so far away from Manchester, to find images, places and feelings that show us the world far and wide, with the merit of getting us into the long-awaited time machine. 

Definitely a wonderful debut that should not escape your musical hunger, if you want it to be covered in quality.

Alex Dematteis

Musicshockworld

Salford

19th April 2024

https://davidpottsmusic.bandcamp.com/album/the-blue-tree

https://davidpottsmusic.bandcamp.com/album/the-red-tree-2