Infantree

Roots-rockers Infantree are making their new album … in the most literal sense. The Valley-bred quartet, now independent after releasing a couple of full-lengths on Neil Young’s Vapor Records, recorded their new album “Return to Zero” themselves. And now the band — Alex Vojdani, Donald Fisher, Matt Kronish and Jordan Avesar — are hand-cutting their own vinyl, including the new 7-inch “Changing Hands” (b/w “For My Lady”). On their website, the band explains that last year they visited Ulrich Sourisseau in Germany, in the process acquiring a device that cuts vinyl. “A vinyl record is long lasting, warm, and something to be cared for … it is the only physical format worth worrying about,” the band writes. “This being said, we have put all our attention and resources into making sure we can always produce vinyls. Now, after a whole lot of time and love and very precise measurements, we are ready to begin production. … Each record is a master cut, done in real-time, with great care. Meaning, if the album takes 45 minutes to listen to, it took us at least 45 minutes to cut.” “Return to Zero” is already available digitally; it was recorded in DIY fashion at Avesar’s house and finds the quartet channeling ’70s blues-rock with typically fine harmonies. - buzzbands.la

Not unlike fellow Angelenos HoneyHoney, the young foursome Infantree makes kitchen-sink folk-pop that’s baroque one moment and go-for-broke the next. A trio of singers and multi-instrumentalists, Alex Vojdani, Donald Fisher and Matt Kronish (abetted by drummer Jordan Avesar) wield guitar, bass, mandolin, banjo and keys to forge a quirky take on Americana that belies their Valley upbringing. The quartet is also a recent signing to Neil Young’s Vapor Records, having recorded its debut album “Would Work” (out Tuesday; stream it here) at Sunset Sound with Niko Bolas (a Young collaborator who worked on three of his albums). If you frequent Santa Monica’s 3rd Street Promenade, you might have seen one of their myriad sets there; if not, make nice with the track below. - Buzz Bands

Local LA Indie Rock band Infantree is opening for the legendary Neil Young and Crazy Horse this fall on their US and Canadian tour. The greatest achievement during this tour will be playing in their hometown of Los Angeles at the Hollywood Bowl.

Infantree
I Images
Celebrating their second album's release, Hero’s Dose, became available on June 26th. The guys worked with producer Niko Bolas (Secret Sister, Warren Zevon) and are currently touring to support their latest LP. The songs are an intricate, melodic, combination of masterful moments.

Listen & watch the VIDEO for "HEAR GOES NOTHING"

If you miss one of these dates, Infantree is also playing at San Francisco’s Outside Lands, Austin City Limits and the New Orleans Voodoo Festival.

Jun-26 Los Angeles, CA The Satellite
Jun-30 Ashland, OR The Bellview Grange
Jul-27 Los Angeles, CA The Echo
Aug-10 Turin, NY moe.down 13 Festival
Aug-12 San Francisco, CA Outside Lands
Sep-1 Los Angeles, CA The Roxy
Oct-3 Windsor, ON WFCU Centre *
Oct-5 Kingston, ON K-ROCK Centr *
Oct-6 London, ON John Labatt Centre *
Oct-8 Cleveland, OH Wolstein Center *
Oct-9 Pittsburgh, PA Petersen Events Center *
Oct-12 Austin, TX Austin City Limits Festival Oct-14 Tulsa, OK Tulsa Convention Center Arena * Oct-17 Los Angeles, CA Hollywood Bowl *
Oct-26 New Orleans, LA Voodoo Festival
(* with Neil Young and Los Lobos) - examiner

Infantree came of age at a time when more was more in the Indie music scene. The more keyboards, the more vocal effects, the more synthesizers a band boasted, the more praise they got from Pitchfork- think Animal Collective and MGMT. But somehow this young southern Californian band was able to escape the fad unscathed and has gone from recording in basements to playing SXSW in just one year. It wasn’t always this way though. “I think we were trying a little too hard,” said Jordan Avesar, drummer. “Now we just try to get to the simplest form of the song, the skeleton.”
“Over embellishing… it can just get to be too much,” said Matt Kronish the guitarist/ banjo player. “Yeah, you don’t always need all those instruments,” added Don Fisher. Fisher, by the way, is in charge of “all those instruments,” playing bass, mandolin, keys, and guitar.
Infantree’s simplistic sound has gotten them plenty of attention. The band is now signed to Vapor Records, had their documentary “Food for Thought” shown at Bonnaroo this past summer, and performed at SXSW in Austin, Texas last March. Although they didn’t get to see any bands play at the festival- other than “some weird Russian” group- they described the experience, their first major gig, as “eye-opening.”
“It definitely makes your skin a little thicker, seeing all your competition there in one place,” said Alex Vojani, the guitarist/ lyricist.
But Infantree need not worry. Their unique sound and small band likability factor has given them a running start on the music scene. The band is currently promoting their newest album, Would Work, on their first ever tour, which kicked off in Cambridge, MA October 19th at T.T and the Bears.
Would Work is one of those albums you put on and instantly feel comfortable with. It’s loaded with perfectly blended harmonies and catchy rhythms. Listening to it, it’s easy to forget that the guys making the music were just jamming in their basements not long ago. Some highlights off the album are To & Fro, Mourning Glory, and Rubbed Raw.
Stay tuned to WECB’s New Music Show on Wednesdays from 6-8 to hear these songs and more! Also, make sure to keep an eye on Infantree’s Myspace for the upcoming Mourning Glory music video.

-Mariella Minton - WECB Music Report

What's so good?
It’s about time everyone’s surf pop hangover wears off. For those who have managed to sober up from the psychedelic sounds of summer, and the rest who are vacillating between withdrawal and detox, Infantree’s LP Would Work is your 12-track program.

Out of the San Fernando Valley in California, Alex Vojdani, Matt Kronish, and Donald Fisher started playing music together in high school. Now in their early twenties, with the addition of Jordan Avesar on drums, Infantree breathes (much needed) life into a new season of song. Influenced by Pink Floyd, Tom Waits, and Neil Young (Infantree is on Young’s label Vapor Records), Infantree’s well-balanced, sometimes brash, steady rock rhythm make you want to set off down by the river and hang underneath the harvest moon.

Would Work’s 12 tracks hearten and flow, sending an opportune surge of folk through our veins just in time to transport us out of a heavily dosed shoegaze. Mandolins, banjos, and acoustic guitars intermingle with the uniting voices of all three vocalists. A crescendoing chorus makes you eager for one (two, three…) more hits. Nostalgia and novelty permeate the band’s lyrics, in part and without a doubt, because Alex, Matt, and Donald are all songwriters; each depositing bright twenty-something soul for us to swill.

In “No One’s Home,” the lyrics “how long can you disguise how you feel with a song, all day long until you feel there’s nothing wrong?” make me pretty confident that I could masquerade in the music of Would Work. After all, aren’t most (music) addicts in search of sublimity?

Infantree exudes refined originality well beyond their years. Get your fix. - Indie Shuffle

California based Infantree is a band that works so well because the band members have been together since they were in the 10th grade (their now roughly in their twenties). They’re working class musicians who have honed their craft by playing hundreds of shows and have finally come under the tutelage of Niko Bolas (Neil Young, Kiss, John Mayer, Sting) who produces the bands debut album on Vapor Records.

First off, and sorry to kind of toss out this spoiler, Infantree is incredible, even for a folk rock outfit. The band blends a lot of organic acoustic sound with great vocal harmonizing on the album. It borders a classic rock sound really. Lyrically the album is extremely busy like any good folk outfit should have. Overall an amazing sound is produced thanks in large part to the bands excellence on their instruments creating a complex raw sounding mix. If I had to compare their vocal harmonizing to any particular bands I’d have to say Fleet Foxes, Alice In Chains, Simon & Garfunkle, just to name a few. 12 tracks make up the album that is very laid back and easy to get lost in. Usually when a band is this laid back on their sound its easy for me to state that you could simply turn on their album and ignore it or just relax to it but somehow Infantree has created an album where every track seems to have an importance to it. You just stop and listen to the instruments intertwining with one another, the quirky vocals that have such a hypnotizing harmony to them, and lyrics that demand to be heard. If you’ve never heard of Insantree chances are in the next few years these guys will flash big on your radar. - Shake Fire

Infantree
I had the pleasure of seeing Infantree the night before OSL, at a bar/restaurant called The Crepe Place in Santa Cruz. Infantree turned out to be a really good band. All three vocalists have mastered the nasally-without-being-annoying sound, and their slow, beat-driven music is something I’d highly recommend checking out. - Synthesis Weekly

Infantree – Tree-p
More experimental folk, this much more twangy. One of the singers sounds like a bluegrass singer which I would normally hate, but I kind of like this band. - WKNC 88.1 Blog

Infantree

Four young musicians with a successful self-penned, self-recorded, self-released EP-turned-LP, "Tree-P." Panhandle Solar, noon Sat. - San Francisco Chronicle