The Unbending Trees are a musical project that hail from

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

. They specialize in sparse chamber ballads and slo-core pop.

History

Kristóf Hajós-Dévényi (vocals, words) was involved in various musical projects before founding The Unbending Trees in 2006, and was a

friar A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders in the Catholic Church. There are also friars outside of the Catholic Church, such as within the Anglican Communion. The term, first used in the 12th or 13th century, distinguishes the mendi ...

candidate in his teens at the

Franciscans The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor being the largest conte ...

, spending several years dependent on

antidepressants Antidepressants are a class of medications used to treat major depressive disorder, anxiety disorders, chronic pain, and addiction. Common side effects of antidepressants include dry mouth, weight gain, dizziness, headaches, akathisia, sexu ...

.Paphides, Pete (2008)
Sad, sweet sound of autumn
, ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' (''The Knowledge'' supplement, p. 26), 22 November 2008Oliver, Nic (2008)
The Unbending Trees - Chemically Happy (Is The New Sad) (Strange Feeling)
, ''

MusicOMH ''MusicOMH'' (stylized as ''musicOMH'') is a London-based online music magazine which publishes independent reviews, features and interviews from across all genres including classical, metal, rock and R&B. History ''MusicOMH'' was founded an ...

'' Balázs Havasi (piano) is a Hungarian pianist and graduated at the Hungarian Music Academy. The group started when Hajós created a MySpace page for songs he had written using pieces by classical pianist Havasi. He then added some tracks by Háry to the site, and for a time the trio existed without the members ever having actually met. The Unbending Trees were discovered by

Ben Watt Benjamin Brian Thomas Watt (born 6 December 1962) is a British musician, singer, songwriter, author, DJ, and radio presenter, best known as a member of the duo Everything but the Girl. Early life Watt was born in Marylebone, London, and grew u ...

via

MySpace Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...

and subsequently signed to Watt's new Strange Feeling Records. The Unbending Trees released their debut EP in September in the United Kingdom, which was later on licensed to their home country, Hungary by mTon/Magneoton. The band's debut album, ''Chemically Happy (is the New Sad)'' was released in 2008 and features contributions from Watt and his partner

Tracey Thorn Tracey Thorn (born 26 September 1962) is an English singer, songwriter, and author. She is best known as a member of the duo Everything but the Girl, active from 1982 to 2000, and again from 2022. She was in the band Marine Girls from 1980 to ...

. Their increased exposure in the UK has led to the band receiving extensive radio airplay in Hungary and reaching MTV Hungary's Top 10,Semchenko, Denis (2008)
THE UNBENDING TREES – Chemically Happy (Is The New Sad)
, ''Rave'' magazine, 14 November 2008 as well as being nominated as the best Hungarian act of 2008 at the

MTV European Music Awards The MTV Europe Music Awards (originally named MTV European Music Awards, commonly abbreviated as MTV EMA) are awards presented by Paramount International Networks to honour artists and music in pop culture. It was originally conceived as an al ...

. The band started working with the UK based Sincere Management in early 2009 owned by

Peter Jenner Peter Julian Jenner (born 3 March 1943) is a British music manager and a record producer. Jenner, Andrew King and the original four members of Pink Floyd were partners in Blackhill Enterprises. Early career Peter Jenner is the son of Will ...

. Péter Háry (bass, programming) quit the band in the spring of 2009 and has been replaced by Ferenc Honyecz. The band have drawn several comparisons with

Leonard Cohen Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934November 7, 2016) was a Canadian songwriter, singer, poet, and novelist. Themes commonly explored throughout his work include faith and mortality, isolation and depression, betrayal and redemption, soc ...

,Richman, Simmy (2008)
Album: The Unbending Trees, Chemically Happy (Is the New Sad), (Strange Feeling)
, ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', 12 October 2008 and often been considered as the new high brow of music. In 2010,

covered the band's first hit, 'You Are A Lover' on her solo album, ' Love and Its Opposite'. In 2013 the two founding members of the band recorded a double album titled 'Meteor', to be released 15 October that year.

Discography

Albums

* ''Chemically Happy (Is The New Sad)'' Released 6 October 2008 * ''Meteor'' Released 15 October 2013

EPs

* ''The First Day'' EP Released September 2007 in UK / December 2007 in Hungary * ''Everybody's Lover EP'' Released 8 December 2008

Singles

* "The Original" (Szucs Krisztian ( eaven Street Seven vs The Unbending Trees) Released April 2008 * "Overture" (with

) Released 29 September 2008

References

External links

Official website
*Fletcher, John (2008)

(review), New-noise.net *Burgess, John (2008)
Rock review: The Unbending Trees, Chemically Happy (Is the New Sad)
, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', September 12, 2008 *Simpson, Oli (2008)
The Unbending Trees - Chemically Happy (Is The New Sad) (Strange Feeling)
, ''Bearded'' magazine {{DEFAULTSORT:Unbending Trees Hungarian pop music groups Musical groups established in 2006 English-language musical groups from Hungary