Bringing an indie edge to their brand of alt country, Milwaukee’s Juniper Tar handle dreamy three-part-harmonies and weighty poetic license with an ease belying their debut-album status. Sleepy melodi- cism mixes with droning guitars in brooding, late-night trips of Americana. Still, Tar has clearly digested their mutual record collections too well for convenient Wilco comparisons; and the best here sounds like Daniel Lanois producing an ego-less, Harvest-era Neil Young. But mostly To the Trees is made of rustic, meandering ruminations that, somehow, embody a brand of flannel-clad, Pabst-swilling hipsterdom that is so distinctly Milwaukee.
A CD release party takes place 9 p.m., Feb. 20, at Burnhearts tavern.
