WIUS 1570 AM Pick of the Week

Oh joy! Oh rapture! Oh ecstasy! The Blue Trees, the new mini-LP from Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, is spinning on the hi-fi, and at the end of the day, this is what it's all about: gorgeous tunes. Wait, back up, I'm getting ahead of myself.\nGorky's Zygotic Mynci is a Welsh band (Loosely translated, the name means "Dimwit Reproductive Monkey.") who is celebrating its 10th year together. That's right, the band's been around since the early 1990s releasing albums and singles consistently. This is the seventh LP, with an eighth due later this year. Not that we Americans would know that much about it, seeing as Stateside distribution of Gorky's material has been spotty at best. Beggars Banquet finally picked Gorky up over here in time for 1999's outstanding Spanish Dance Troupe, and now it's giving 2000's The Blue Trees a slightly belated release.\nThis is not a record that pushes the boundaries of pop. Rather, it's music that could have been made 30 years ago or 30 years from now. It's timeless. This brings to mind the best moments of Nick Drake, Belle & Sebastian, American folk music and last summer's all-in-Welsh record Mwng from fellow countrymen Super Furry Animals. Of the eight tracks, four are instrumental and four vocal, including a cover of a 1960s obscuro, The Honeybus' "Fresher Than the Sweetness in Water" and a Welsh song, "Sbia Ar Y Seren."\nGorky has never been as electrified as the Super Furries, but this release is even more mellow and pastoral than usual. The eclectic instrumentation of earlier releases like 1997's Barafundle (shockingly released in the United States on a major label but sadly now out of print) is gone. There's hardly any percussion on the album, which lets the acoustic guitars and Megan Childs' violin shine through. On the title track, which opens the album, you can hear fingers sliding down the guitar strings. The next track, "This Summer's Been Good from the Start," builds on the guitar and violin interplay with Gorky's trademark vocal harmonies. Six tracks and 20 minutes later, the album is over, and the listeners are left to pick their jaws up off the floor and press "play" again.\nSedate but not sleep-inducing, charming but not overly sweet, The Blue Trees is the soundtrack to every picnic or drive through the countryside you'll ever take. In a perfect world, this would sell 5 million copies, and you'd get sick of hearing it coming out of cars all summer. Too bad. Wales is sending us beauty. Spread the word.