Sometimes, song lyrics fall off a singer's tongue in such a way that their meaning is practically irrelevant. Michael Ian Cummings, singer and guitarist for The Dead Trees, already knows how to bend and slur words to his will, if his new album King of Rosa is any indication. "OK Standby" finds him conveying yearning ("Tell me what you want / I kinda need it") without bothering to tell a linear story.
The Dead Trees recently relocated to Portland, Ore., from Boston, and they've already infused the city's music scene with a breath of fresh and filthy air. There's nothing terribly cerebral about lines like "In the nighttime / I'll make you mine," but the group already has an innate understanding of the way great rock 'n' roll can combine the absurd with the vulgar without seeming to try too hard. Cummings may or may not have a lot to say, but it sure is easy to love the way his band sounds.
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