The previous Walnut Tree Records distro was a little gold mine, featuring some pretty stellar releases by bands who have gone on to do good things. I was a big supporter of the distro back then and it’s good to know Tom has decided to re-start it. I hope people follow it as he has a decent nose for a band and, if Arden are anything to go by, there may be a few stars of the future waiting to be introduced to us.
‘The Big Picture’ has been described as a cross between 1997 and Sherwood and that’s a fair reflection. At times the band sound unbelievably sweet and melodic, with the likes of ‘Cricket’ really stellar tunes. However, being a little picky I did find Arden to be a little too alike to some of their peers. The Morning Of released an album earlier this month which was full of highly polished girl/boy vocals and, in comparison, Arden just aren’t quite as slick. Don’t get me wrong, this is a vibrant and fun little record, and at times the multi-layered instrumentation works really well (‘A Slow Spiral Geoffrey’). But for me, to stand out from the pack, they just need to be a little different. And Arden aren’t quite there yet.