Treeless Plain

Studio album by The Triffids

Released

November 1983

Recorded

Emerald City Studios, Sydney
August/September, 1983

Genre

Label

Hot Records/Rough Trade

Producer

The Triffids

The Triffids chronology

Bad Timing and Other Stories
(1983)

Treeless Plain
(1983)

Love In Bright Landscapes
(1986)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic

Treeless Plain is the debut album by The Triffids, released in November, 1983. The album was recorded at Emerald City Studios, Sydney, Australia in twelve midnight to dawn sessions, during August through to September 1983. It was the band's first release after signing with Hot Records.

A remastered version of the album, with seven bonus live tracks recorded in 1983, was released in Australia in June 2008 through Liberation Music.

David McComb later said, "I don't think it's a great record, but at least we tried to do a few things that pub bands wouldn't normally do. For a lot of the underground scene all across Australia, we just weren't hard rock enough. We used to have a thing against pedals."

An AllMusic review claimed, "Treeless Plain underscores The Triffids' knack for blending folk and country with indie rock in a way that anticipated the rise of alt-country in the '90s." David McComb's "commanding and resonant" vocals were particularly praised, and the songs, "offered incontrovertible evidence of McComb's skill as a songwriter with a unique lyrical and musical vision."

Clinton Walker described the album as, "a remarkably mature, muscular yet sensitive statement, and it was probably as broadly successful as any Australian indy has ever been. But that still didn't mean big figures." Elsewhere, it was said that the album would endear itself to listeners, "assuming, of course, that you can envisage a band that links folksy sounds, replete with fiddles, with those you might expect of some early Velvet Underground."

All songs written by David McComb unless otherwise noted.

Credited to:

...
Wikipedia