Pine Tree Canopy seems personal and intimate, from the summer house field recordings to the pointillist notes to the souvenir capsules that contain “paper thin layers of bark” and other fallen ephemera from the red-orange pine trees of Norway’s Hvaler. These presents from Hans Jacobsen (Duelling Ants) connect the listener with place and feel, sparking an armchair imagination. As a bonus, the album also includes our first favorite track title of 2026: “I was floating in a dream and there was Neural Milk Motel.”
“Soft dough” is about as comforting a title as one can imagine, especially when one is snowed in, holding tight to the tiny pleasures of home. The music seems less to develop than to unspool, as if rolled from a pin. Small electronics, crinckles and hints of guitar are set against a warm background glow, as if from a Norwegian hearth. Throughout the cassette, micro-melodies are content to play like red winter squirrels against the camouflaging pine.
The tinkles of “Kline” suggests both wind chimes and collar bells, when water sounds enter, one imagines a house cat prowling the river, cautious not to fall in. “Mellomspill” (which means a gap or pause) invites the guests in for a brief, happy conversation. Joseph Yorio pops by to play notes on bass clarinet, perhaps leaving with a wrapped, homemade snack. “Strum” sounds like childhood, a cornucopia of music boxes and toys. In the aforementioned NMH track, Jacobsen plays quiet guitar while dreaming of guitar, closing an imaginary loop. The entire set is dreamlike, imitating the way in which one loses track of time when hiking in the woods, allowing the rhythms of nature to take precedence over the oppression of digital devices.
The cassette ends with the click of a cassette, which seems obvious to those who have the cassette, but is a gift to those who do not: now everyone who is listening can imagine such an analog moment. The field recordings stand in for the bark, the tape sounds for the tactile object, ensuring that every listener will enjoy the same organic experience: a Pine Tree Canopy translated into a canopy of sound. (Richard Allen)
a closer listen 