B-Side Guys

In these fractured, disorienting times, there’s an undeniable pull towards the restorative power of the natural world. Fortunately, Dan Graul is here to guide us on a psychedelic journey of self-discovery amidst the verdant boughs and flowing rivers – one raucous folk-rock stomp at a time.

On “The Tree,” the LA-based songwriter taps into the primal wisdom of the wild, using vivid natural imagery as a conduit for deeper meditations on identity, connection, and the eternal quest for self-actualization. As Graul explains, the track was born during a reflective hike in the Big Bear mountains, as he pondered “themes of connection, self doubt and ultimately surrender to the wildness and connectedness of all things.”

And that sense of communal, cosmic oneness courses through the track’s thumping rhythms and buzzing guitar lines. Graul’s blues-tinged vocals wrestle with feelings of isolation and uncertainty (“I don’t really know/Why I can’t let myself be like the tree”) before ultimately finding solace in the towering steadfastness of the natural order. “I must harness her momentum/Ebb and flow from tide to tide/So that I can survive,” he sings, his voice taking on an almost shamanic quality.

It’s a quintessential psych-folk catharsis, one that channels the unbridled energy of vintage Neil Young while retaining a distinctly modern sense of anxious introspection. Graul’s songwriting is equal parts incantatory and confessional, marrying hard-driving grooves with lyrics that read like passages from a nature-worshipping manifesto.

And the track’s ever-shifting tonal palette only heightens that transportive quality. It’s a dizzying, thoroughly engrossing experience – the aural equivalent of plunging headfirst into the verdant unknown, only to emerge spiritually renewed and fortified. Because when the world feels like it’s crumbling all around us, sometimes the best path forward is to simply get lost in nature’s embrace and “rise above” our own limiting perspectives.

So heed the call of “The Tree” and let Dan Graul be your guide. This is psych-folk as a form of sacred communion, a means of finding our rightful place in the grand, interconnected tapestry of existence. All it takes is the courage to let go and surrender to the wild.