SQR001 - The Catalog Compilation--------------------------------
Conifer Rock, otherwise known as Trevor Edmonds, has been recording for Square Root since the label started back in 2005. Back then, he recorded as the Chauceworth Aif. The first thing Square Root released was a compilation CD entitled Catalog, containing two tracks from each of the seven artists associated with the label back then. The first two tracks on the album were from the Chauceworth Aif, entitled "Semblance" and "Alltec V2.0." The songs were based on Edmonds' interests in synthesizers and computer drum programming, and they laid the groundwork for his future output. "Semblance" in particular featured early experiments with vocal processing, an idea that's appeared quite a few times in his music since then.
SQR002 - The Chauceworth Aif / Impress/Depress--------------------------------
The first artist record on Square Root was, appropriately enough, the Impress/Depress EP by the Chauceworth Aif, released in November, 2005. The album is full of exquisitely precise electronic creations, ranging from the pitch-shifted choirs of "BoyGirlParty" to the finely-crafted percussion and bass of "Trisect." Programmed drums and live drum kits go head to head throughout the album, and melodies are created by combining sequenced vocal noises with lush, sleep-deprived synthesizer arrangements. The album doesn't include any guitar work until the last track, which is somewhat interesting, because the guitar has played a prominent role in Edmonds' music ever since.
Impress/Depress leads off with a song called "Trophy Wives," which is notable because it is the first of what I'd like to think of as Edmonds' single-worthy tracks. Edmonds has a knack for writing great melodic hooks, and, if Square Root existed twenty (or ten) years ago, we'd be releasing songs like "Trophy Wives," "Droid in a Void," and "Show Me Some Heart" as twelve-inches. One day... Impress/Depress closes with three very different remixes of "Trophy Wives" by Cantilever and the two members of a Ferret Named Polo, marking the spirit of collaboration that we like to think is central to Square Root.
SQR004 - The Chauceworth Aif / Conifer Rock--------------------------------
We released the next Chauceworth Aif EP, entitled Conifer Rock, in April 2007, originally just on a limited CD instead of as a digital release. The Conifer Rock EP serves as a transition of sorts in Edmonds' musical career. Indeed, following the release of this EP, Edmonds decided to record music under the name "Conifer Rock" instead of as the Chauceworth Aif. This EP, then, marks a turning point for Edmonds, since it now shares its name with his musical project as a whole. While the Impress/Depress EP was a largely digital affair, the Conifer Rock"EP is much more varied in its approach, as Edmonds turned to new recording techniques, embracing more acoustic and live instrumentation, and experimenting with tape effects.
The "Conifer Rock" EP begins with "Like Daylight When it Snows." This track serves as a memorable opening statement, incorporating an ambient introduction and moving through a distinctive chopped-up percussive section. The song finally concludes with a cathartic, melodic sense of released tension. The five songs that follow, including the raucous "Droid in a Void" and the softer cello-based "3-D Goggle Spring Windshield," each contribute something different to create a wide-ranging album that works together as one coherent piece.
SQR007 - Conifer Rock / Show Me Some Heart--------------------------------
Edmonds' next release was a single, "Show Me Some Heart," which came out in October, 2007. We released this simultaneously with the "Mina" single by Cantilever -- both artists had taken slightly different approaches to the idea of the "single," so we thought they would compliment each other quite well. Conifer Rock's "Show Me Some Heart" consists of an a-side and a b-side, and it is not connected with an album or other body of work; it simply stands alone. Appropriate to its format, the music contained within the single explores different aspects of rock music and live instrumentation. The two tracks on the single are decidedly different, yet they share certain themes through the use of particular instruments and vocals, and there is an undercurrent of potential derailment that unites them.
The track "Show Me Some Heart," is a disjointed feedback-heavy piece in the grand tradition of krautrock and post-punk. This builds on the foundation of early Conifer Rock/Chauceworth Aif songs like "Droid in a Void" and "Trophy Wives," yet it is entirely different in its instrumentation. The b-side, "Cloud's Spit," is a more somber companion piece, featuring cello and trumpet.
SQR008 - Conifer Rock / Wood Creaks, Bellow Sighs & Unionized Hammer Strikes--------------------------------
The next Conifer Rock record came somewhere out of left field - a collection of subdued, melancholy acoustic ballads, based on guitar, pump organ, and piano. Edmonds' recordings as the Chauceworth Aif focused largely on the precise interplay between electronic and acoustic instruments and percussion, but, since adopting the Conifer Rock name in 2007, his music has become much looser and more free-flowing. Edmonds has, in a sense, stepped away from the grid of primarily electronic sounds and embraced a more human, natural tone in his work.
This progression reaches a conclusion of sorts with "Wood Creaks." The album begins with a faintly nostalgic instrumental entitled "Frederick Nidifer" and ends with the organ tones of "Bookends," with three vocal-based songs in between. I'd like to think that the album's sonic vocabulary takes its a lot of inspiration from the physical and psychological landscape of living in Michigan -- it has a deep connection to snow, forests, and nostalgia.
So, that's an overview of what Conifer Rock has been doing for the past three years. The Exploded Views EP, which will be unleashed on February 24, is a return of sorts to the glam-infused electronic rock of the "Show Me Some Heart" single, drawing inspiration from Bowie, T-Rex, Joy Division, old Motown, and the like. We're very excited about this record...
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