Buzzworthy Obsession: Between The Trees, 'We Can Try'

Between The Trees had, and has, plenty of room to be like so many alt-rock, emo-by-a-hair bands. The Orlando group's 2006 debut album, The Story and The Song, displayed potential, but we've heard potential before; what direction would the group take? Was a radio-ready single in the works? Because it felt like they could make one. Between The Trees reads to me, though, as a band that naturally matures, shifts gears of its own volition -- not to make money or to be different for the sake of being different.

I couldn't say BTT's newest single, "We Can Try," is radically different from the tempered-emo you may have heard on their debut, but in it lies a maturity. I also like that -- and it sounds odd to note this as a pleasant anomaly -- lead singer Ryan Kirkland actually knows how to sing; he's in control and knows exactly how to manipulate his voice as an instrument.

"We Can Try" is the lead single from the band's sophomore album, Spain, due out August 11. If you haven't seen the video, like the group, it's subdued, almost unobtrusive, while the retro equipment, the bleak, cell-like apartments and lighting add some texture. And the video's ambiguous ending is choice: a completely inscrutable face from the recipient of so many forlorn love letters... could have ended with a cliche smile, a hug or a door slam, but Between The Trees proved they've beyond that.

Tags Between The Trees, Buzzworthy Obsession, video