Trees (Avantdale Bowling Club album)

Trees (stylised as TREES) is the second studio album by Avantdale Bowling Club, the solo project of New Zealand rapper Tom Scott. Released in September 2022, the album debuted at number one on the Official New Zealand Music Chart.

Production
Scott worked together with former At Peace bandmate Christoph El Truento to create the album. The pair worked to create a more modern sound on the album compared to the debut Avantdale Bowling Club album from 2018, by incorporating auto-tune, newer drum machines and accordion.

Release and promotion
As a part of the 2022 New Zealand International Film Festival, Scott released Trees, an 18-minute short film directed by Scott that depicts a dystopian world where trees have been banned. The film starred Bruce Hopkins, and was scored by Avantdale Bowling Club. Scott toured New Zealand in November and December 2022, performing six dates including performances at the Auckland Town Hall and the St. James Theatre, Wellington.

Critical reception
Everything Is Noise chose Trees as one of their top 75 albums of 2022, while Hip-Hop Golden Age chose Trees as the 14th best hip-hop album of 2022, praising the album as "an effortless fusion of neo-jazz and Hip Hop", noting that "Trees is more subtle and humble than Avantdale Bowling Club's eponymous masterpiece debut".

Credits and personnel

 * Tom Broome – recording (2)
 * Cory Champion – drums, vibraphone
 * Tom Dennison – additional bass
 * Julien Dyne – drums
 * Christoph El Truento – mixer, producer
 * Guy Harrison – keyboards, trumpet
 * Brandon Haru – keyboards
 * Daniel Hayles – keyboards
 * Haz Beats – producer (2)
 * Hershel Hersche – accordion
 * Troy Kingi – additional vocals
 * Ben Lawson – mixer, recording engineer
 * Jong-Yung Lee – saxophone
 * Parks – keyboards
 * Rizvan – additional vocals
 * Tom Scott – concept, vocals
 * Manhit Singh – tabla
 * Hollie Smith – additional vocals
 * Dallas Tamaira – additional vocals
 * Mara TK – additional vocals, guitar, sitar
 * Jeremy Toy – additional guitar
 * Lui Tuiasau – additional vocals
 * Ben Turua – bass
 * Tonga Vaea – additional vocals