The Unbending Trees: Hungarian Pop Makes Good
- 9 Jun 2012 10:55 AM
Though there has been a turn in local tastes for homegrown music, sang in Hungarian, here in Budapest, pubs and clubs still resonate with songs in English, imported from abroad. Rare is occasion when Hungary has the opportunity to export some of its on songs in the form of pop music (classical is another story). But recently the sophisticated Hungarian pop band The Unbending Trees have become something of an international hit with their brooding ballad “You Are A Lover,” which was released in England by the label Strange Feeling Records, and was subsequently covered by Everything But The Girl’s Tracey Thorn.
Lead singer and Trees founder Kristof Hajos’s story is idiosyncratic as is the band’s music. Much has been made in the local press of Hajos’s youthful stay in a local Franciscan monastery, where he was studying to be a monk. For undisclosed reasons, he was invited to leave the monastery (in other words, kicked out), and moved to Budapest to pursue a career in the arts.
Hajos is a charismatic frontman, but the driving force behind the music is Balázs Hamvasi, one of the most promising contemporary graduates of the Hungarian Music Academy. Having recorded the song “You Are A Lover,” they posted it on their MySpace page, and were lucky enough to have Ben Watt of Everything But the Girl stumble upon it. Not long after, Watt signed the band to his Strange Feeling Records.
In interviews Hajos has compared The Unbending Tree’s music to Nick Drake and Leonard Cohen. Others have made the comparison to Hungary’s favorite suicide anthem “Gloomy Sunday”. While the band acknowledges that debt, it does seem convenient and they remain optimistic about their prospects and optimistic about Hungary. “I don’t foresee moving out there (to London). I am quite happy with my job right now. So unless it is really necessary, I don’t think I will move,” said Hajos.
The accompanying video to “You Are A Lover” was basically homemade, yet it captures the moodiness of Budapest perfectly (not to mention making great use of the Szabadsag Bridge). Apparently the couple in the video broke up not long after the shoot. Let’s hope The Unbending Trees don’t do the same, and continue to reflect well on the sophisticated local music scene, internationally.
PPM Film Services is a Budapest-based film company offering an inspiring and creative work atmosphere for its host of clients from around the world. Since our inception, our focus has been providing the best of the best in terms of local production resources, locations, cast and technical teams to ensure that whatever the production we’re charged to create, we do it with no compromise.
Matt Ellis is an author coach and manuscript editor at Word Pill Editing.
Source: ppmhungary.wordpress.com
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