Intercontinental Pop Exchange No. 4

Number four in Endearing Records’ Intercontinental Pop Exchange series. One band from somewhere. One artist from somewhere else. Half a CD each.

Treeball’s half: two previously unreleased songs, “Not Happy Now” and “This Is Round”, plus “Blue” from National Treasure and “Friday Night” from The Strawberry Blonde School of Class. The “Monkeys” video on the enhanced part. The other half: Canadian singer-songwriter Aaron Booth.

Released in Canada on 14 September 2004. Calgary’s CJSW had it at number 24 on its rock chart three weeks before that. Quince Records put it out in Japan. A shared tour followed: Aaron Booth in Finland in September, Treeball in Canada in October.

Credits

• Treeball: Nick Triani, Astrid Swan, Aleksi Mänttäri, Janne Lehtinen, Michael McDonald.
• Cover painting: Aaron Kraten.

Reviews

Both new songs are really good ones and the beginning of the opener Not Happy Now is probably the most beautiful moment they’ve so far created.

Vesa Lautamäki, One Chord to Another, September 2004, ★★★★

The strongest track is the opener “Not Happy Now,” a perfect little indie rock ballad that incorporates the strong vocal harmonies of singers Nick Triani and Astrid Swan.

Tim Lawrence, Umbrella Music, October 2004, ★★★½

Four songs apiece from each of these artists, which leaves us with eight tracks. And not a bad one in the bunch.

Cameron Gordon, Soulshine, October 2004, ★★★

Friday Night is an amazing power pop song, a beautiful piece consisting of energetic guitars and keyboards. Reminds me of Big Star.

Indiepop.it, November 2004

Treeball’s star is clearly on the rise.

Markku Roinila, Rumba, no. 16/2004, ★★★

Finland’s Treeball are a real find.

Not Lame Recordings, October 2004