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David J
The Trees In Silence Sing

Single US 2001 on Heyday Records label
Rock (Acoustic, Indie Rock)

VHS tape comes in standard white cardboard slip case with die-cut window to read the label. This song was written a few days after September 11, 2001. ( Hence the reference to the 'six thousand dead', this was the first estimate which was later reduced to three thousand, although it occurred to me that every one of those poor souls had a significant other, who would have 'died' with them. ) The title refers to something that I heard on the radio. A journalist, who had just returned from three years in Afghanistan was describing his experience of driving into Kabul for the first time and seeing these strange glittering black trees in the distance. When he was up close, he saw that the effect was caused by sunlight reflecting off of miles of audio tape that had been strewn through the branches of the trees. Apparently, it was the custom of the Taliban regime to confiscate music cassettes, rip out the tape and wrap it around the trees as a graphic reminder that listening to music was forbidden. I was struck by the poetic connotations of this image. Those trees were, in effect, full of music. They were silent but in a very powerful way, they were singing out loud. The recording and video features Joe Plummer from The Shins on drums, Tobias Nathaniel from Black Heart Procession on piano alongside Joyce Rooks (cello) and myself (guitar, vocals) and a whole gang of kids! (The recording was released by Heyday records in 2001 with all sale proceeds going to the 9/11 fund and the Afghanistan children fund.)

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David J b, voc, *1957 GB album by

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