(Self-released, digital)
For the record: I don’t hate it when white people play reggae music.
Yes, it’s true that upon hearing it, I’ve publicly stated something to the effect of: “This is whiter than George Bush vomiting on the prime minister of Japan in 1992” — a real thing that happened, BTW. And did I start referring to white reggae as bushu-suru, after a Japanese slang term for puking in public? Guilty.
Notwithstanding what I said when I was drunk at a party and some dreadlocked dude named Chet played acoustic renditions of Bob Marley songs, I’m largely cool with A Flora Borealis, the new reggae-ish album from Hyde Park quartet the Shady Trees.
Most of the tracks on the record are closer to jam-band terrain mixed with aspects of funk and Southern rock, as on “Seasons” and album opener “North Country.” While the latter track veers into reggae-rock, the extended psych-rock jam in the middle keeps it solidly in the realm of fusion.
Similar to other Caucasian lovers of Jamaican sounds, such as Sublime and Slightly Stoopid, the Shady Trees are less of a reggae act and more of a band that uses reggae to decorate rock music. If I were a purist about reggae, a genre that originated in Black culture as a reaction to systemic injustice and oppression, I might have some reservations. But I’m not. And besides, it hardly feels fair to hold the Shady Trees accountable for adopting something bands such as the Police, UB40 and 311 also did to sell millions of records.
Whatever influences shape the Shady Trees’ sound, the band has honed them to become a tight, harmony-driven machine. Despite a lean discography — A Flora Borealis is the band’s first proper studio album — its members have been playing together for 14 years, gigging around the state regularly. Brothers Jesse and Micah Sanguedolce have a near-telepathic link on guitars, trading licks and riffs and harmonizing with both their voices and their instruments. Bringing up the rhythm section, drummer Zack Alario and bassist Jason Whipkey bob and weave with funk-flavored zest but can flex into arena rock at the drop of a rastacap.
The record captures the band’s cultivated chemistry, as well as its high-octane live set. Tunes such as “Payphone,” on which the band rides a sinuous groove packed with dynamic shifts, would be at home at a sold-out jam fest. With fiery salvos of funk jams, “Full Circle” has shades of fellow Vermont jam-adjacent act LaMP.
The doo-wop soul feel on “Long Way to Go” is a high point of the record. Over a moody guitar figure and bluesy lead, the Sanguedolce brothers harmonize on the chorus: “We got a long way to go / can’t stop that walk down the road.”
Closer “Big Black Car” is the exact kind of rock-reggae that once prompted me to utter some harsh words. Maybe I’m getting soft with age, or maybe the Shady Trees can just jam that hard, but in the end, the band — and the record — won me over.
Check out A Flora Borealis at theshadytreesvt.com and on major streaming services.
This article appears in Performing Arts Preview • 2026.
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