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THE BANDThe Bush The Tree And Me were perceived as being part of a very short lived New Acoustic Movement (NAM), briefly championed in the UK music press at the beginning of the century. The press opted to forget that the NAM had ever "existed" about a year after they proclaimed and acclaimed it. Of the bands/artists linked with the NAM, only Turin Brakes and its reluctant leaders Kings Of Convenience survive. The Bush The Tree And Me (BTM) disappeared without trace.A pity - even for those who didn't attend one of their last shows in which they premiered several songs for their planned second album, songs which saw them embracing a more electric "rock influenced" sound, and more substantial lyrics while lead singer Paula at last demonstrated her versatility and flexibility. For the one album BTM did record is,in this writer's opinion, really rather wonderful.THE SOUNDThe instrumentation is immediately striking: acoustic guitars, cello or double bass, sparse drumming, occasional organ, and - most remarkable - very prominent use of the clarinet as a lead instrument (an instrument overdue for rediscovery in pop and jazz worlds alike).The vocals are simultaneously powerful and little-girlish - raw, undisciplined, unpredictable in terms of projection, pitching and enunciation. Paula (the lead singer) sounds like a naughty younger sister of Harriet Wheeler, with an even stronger "lower class Home Counties" accent. Guitarist Emma's deeper but more vulnerable vocals are pushed to the forefront at times - "More Than I Could Ask For" is her solo number. Vocal harmonies crop up at regular intervals - the ensemble vocal passages in the ballads "Sacrifice" and "Stone" and even in the hilariously upbeat "Wishing I Was Little", are spine-tingling.THE AESTHETICDespite its links to the NAM, it's not a folk or indie-folk-rock record - it evokes the late '60s (the last time pastoral English acoustic pop was in vogue) but never by direct imitation. Closer antecedents may be found: in the early work of Belle And Sebastian, in the late '80s "tweepop" indie subgenre, in Strawberry Switchblade, Virginia Astley and one or two other '80s one-offs.Yes, you've guessed it, this is a TWEE record, at least in places. A couple of songs have nursery-rhyme like melodies; elsewhere the lyrics are frequently childlike (both in their imagery and their disjointed non-sequitur construction). But why not? It's appropriate that one of the songs is called "Wishing I Was Little" - that title sums up the sound and attitude of (what happens to be) the most instantly appealing half of the album.On the one hand it's the sound of nostalgia for childhood - or rather a carefree childhood that few of us are likely to have experienced. On the other hand, it's more evocative of rural England than any late '60s Kinks album - it really is the sound of lazy summer days spent in rural English villages and their surrounding countryside. This is the sound epitomised by "You", one of the album's highlights - a song which doesn't make literal sense but sounds utterly joyous, suggesting overwhelming excitement at the future about to unfold. Even if as a child you were anxious to get out of those villages as often as possible, even if those country walks were a tiresome ritual inflicted on you by your parents, you'll find it utterly irresistible.But there's a darker and more mature side to the album - it opens with an uncharacteristically aggressive fractured-relationship song ("I...") which is also the most musically gripping moment on the album. The later "If" is almost as powerful, fast paced and angst-ridden, with occasionally startling vocals and lyrics. Indeed, none of the adult relationship-oriented songs suggest contentment: "Sacrifice" and "Stone" are quietly pessimistic, as is "More Than I Could Ask For" (a slow-paced and beautifully bittersweet highlight).On closer inspection, even some of the more childlike, innocent sounding songs (the wonderfully buoyant "Peace Of Mind", the single "Sometimes You Do That", the bossa-nova tinged "Fear Me, Fight Me", the seemingly-nonsensical "Put Me In A Boat" and the uptempo romp "Something ABout Whistling") have a dark side to them.FLAWS - WHERE ARE THOSE B-SIDES?The only thing wrong with this album is its inclusion of two of the three tracks from its trailer single - if there was room for "Sometimes You Do That", one of their slighter songs (full of uncorrected grammatical errors which more of an annoyance than any of the non-sequiturs that pepper the album), there should have been room for its b-side "Never The Same Twice", which has an amazingly athletic vocal and which single handedly elevates that single to must-have status. A reissue adding this and the two non-album tracks from the "No Buses" EP (esp. the exquisitely orchestrated "Like Children Sleeping") would be most welcome.But until then - this album is warmly recommended, even if - especially if - it barely hints at where they could have gone next.