The Tigers
Beautiful Forest

Post. Math. Indie. Noise. Who the hell invented these prefixes, and how did we become so pathetically enslaved to them?

But when put before the ubiquitous and often painfully vague noun “rock”, they can act as helpful signposts, especially when trying to find one’s way around an album like *Beautiful Forest *by Perth’s criminally underrated The Tigers. You might be keen to use “post-rock” to describe opening track ‘Nicest Band’ or the (Sl)instrumental ‘1988’. “Noise rock” might be appropriate when talking about more abrasive tracks like ‘Nice Day’ or ‘Marry Him Off’, while “math rock” is simply universal code for “time signatures other than 4/4”, something this album has plenty of.

But to reduce Beautiful Forest to such pithy descriptors would be to unfairly deny it its subtleties. Rhythmically, these songs are airtight, Oliver Nelson’s skittering percussion and Chris Hudson’s delicately hammering bass as often interlocked as going head-to-head. Vocals – rough-hewn, unsteady, and the closest thing this record has to a weak point – are used sparingly, almost as an afterthought. The melodic interplay between guitars, keyboards and trumpet is the fulcrum on which these songs’ intrinsic beauty rests; while not overtly complex in any technical sense of the word, there’s infinitely more at work on Beautiful Forest than three chords and the odd lilting arpeggio. But it plays its cards pretty close to its chest this record, doling out its secrets slowly and carefully with each repeated listen. Call it what you will – post-noise-indie-math-rock, whatever – Beautiful Forest is one of the Australian albums of the year, without a doubt.

by Adam D Mills