An interview with The Halo Trees
An interview with The Halo Trees
What inspired the name of the band? What are your influences?
Sascha: We are an indie rock band from Berlin, Germany, that likes things a little darker. Our influences are very extensive and range from all types of rock and alternative music to post-punk, progressive rock or folk. In the past we have been compared to bands like The National, Nick Cave, Editors or David Bowie. As for the name: Well, we’re not qualified tree experts, I have to admit, but I found the symbolism of the name very nice. That the tree is deeply rooted in the earth and its branches protrude high into the sky, thus bringing earth and sky together. That opens up a wide lyrical field for us. But if you look at our artworks, masts, cranes or palm trees can also be halo trees for us 😉
How do you approach songwriting? Are there any themes that you are keen to explore when you start off?
I like to think about conceptual ideas in advance of an album and to imagine everything in my head a little. You could say I get pregnant for a while with an album concept before I sit down in the studio and actually compose songs. However, it is often the case that the music takes on a life of its own and many things develop very differently later. Well, I usually have a bag ful of demo songs ready before I know it and am often surprised myself how quickly it went again. I like to sketch the basics of a song including vocals and lyrics in one session. Details of the arrangements and new recordings will of course follow later, but basically the song can then be heard as a song. The demos then go to my fellow musicians and it follows their input and their recordings before I start mixing everything. That would be the process in simplified terms. But in fact it’s always a process that takes several months. For our first album “Antennas To The Sky” that was really tough, for our new album “Summergloom” it was already much easier.
How do you approach songwriting? Are there any themes that you are keen to explore when you start off?
I like to think about conceptual ideas in advance of an album and to imagine everything in my head a little. You could say I get pregnant for a while with an album concept before I sit down in the studio and actually compose songs. However, it is often the case that the music takes on a life of its own and many things develop very differently later. Well, I usually have a bag ful of demo songs ready before I know it and am often surprised myself how quickly it went again. I like to sketch the basics of a song including vocals and lyrics in one session. Details of the arrangements and new recordings will of course follow later, but basically the song can then be heard as a song. The demos then go to my fellow musicians and it follows their input and their recordings before I start mixing everything. That would be the process in simplified terms. But in fact it’s always a process that takes several months. For our first album “Antennas To The Sky” that was really tough, for our new album “Summergloom” it was already much easier.
Why do you write the sort of music that you do?
From the start I wanted to write music that would give my deep voice enough space. So it is clear that with consistently fat riffs we would only get in our own way. Nice, catchy melodies and a warm, melancholy basic sound are important to me. But we tried more and more on “Summergloom” to bring in a few strange elements that make everything a bit more interesting, e.g. crooked bars, unusual harmonies or free song structures. I think “Summergloom” is also an album that you can listen to intensely, preferably under headphones. We paid a lot of attention to detail.
How do you decide what songs to perform live and how do you transpose them into that live setting?
It’s not always easy, because when I write songs I see the album tracks as an end in themselves and at this point I’m not yet thinking about a live realization. So that’s a question that won’t arise until the album is finished. I then see which songs are suitable for the stage and rearrange them. Most of the time, not so important details that just fill the sound are dropped and we concentrate on the most important elements and rewrite them from 30 to 50 tracks to 3 to 4 instruments, depending on the song. And then we have to learn our own songs again 😉
How do you decide what songs to perform live and how do you transpose them into that live setting?
It’s not always easy, because when I write songs I see the album tracks as an end in themselves and at this point I’m not yet thinking about a live realization. So that’s a question that won’t arise until the album is finished. I then see which songs are suitable for the stage and rearrange them. Most of the time, not so important details that just fill the sound are dropped and we concentrate on the most important elements and rewrite them from 30 to 50 tracks to 3 to 4 instruments, depending on the song. And then we have to learn our own songs again 😉
What plans do you have for the future?
As already mentioned, our second album “Summergloom” will be released on October 8th, 2021, of which we are very proud. So we hope many of your readers will listen to it. For example here:
http://thehalotrees.bandcamp.com/
Additionally we are working on the third album, which has already been written. We are currently recording and mixing in parallel and hope that it will be released in 2022