The Plum Trees is fronted by female singer-songwriter, Shannon, who relocated country to record an EP and play at popular music festivals in Beijing. Returning to WA as a solo project she continues to write and reinvent herself as a guitar & ukulele playing indie-folk mystic, who possesses a powerful & enchanting voice.
The Plum Trees are the immediate future of music. . . .
The Plum Trees once were a sibling duo. With all the smarts of any band looking for a way to make it, but knowing that following wouldn’t cut it, they relocated to Beijing where they recorded their eponymous debut EP and began to make it big. With a series of festival performances such as The Mushroom Festival, Dream Sonic and Fete de La Musique, they were ready to take on one of the planet’s most populous markets. Their arc was interrupted by the return of one half of the duo to Western Australia’s southwest region.
Singer-songwriter, Shannon, put a pause on her musical career after returning home.
“I knew what we’d recorded was really special,” Shannon said of her collaboration with her brother, Clancy, who moved onto other things, “but I didn’t know if I could carry on as The Plum Trees. I wasn’t sure what to do.”
The Plum Trees began as more than handy purveyors of dark and angsty almost-metal. But not quite. There was always something about Shannon’s vocals and pop sensibilities that saved them from disappearing entirely into that vortex. The Plum Trees had plenty of drama and gravitas, but they were still everyone’s darlings. During her hiatus, Shannon kept on writing, reinventing herself as a guitar and ukulele playing indie-folk mystic with a powerful voice that remains informed by her earlier work, but these days channels more light than shade.
When the time was right, Shannon made up her mind.
“I decided to keep working as The Plum Trees. Clancy’s good with that and I still believe in the vehicle, it has plenty of room for me to create in and I feel confident I can do the name and our heritage justice.”
As a solo project, The Plum Trees are one of Western Australia’s most intriguing propositions. Once she’d made up her mind, Shannon went about creating connections and tending to reconnections in Western Australia and The Plum Trees very quickly became one of WA’s hardest working outfits, popping up at venues seemingly everywhere. As well as a song writing virtuoso, Shannon is an adept and determined music manager and marketer.
Expect to hear more from The Plum Trees, very soon. They are the immediate future of music.
“God Gave Me Something’ is an absolute gilt-edged gem. And, the rate at which Shannon works her musical vehicle, The Plum Trees, it won’t stay hidden for long. Next time I listen I might just get out my uke and play along.” - Andrea Thompson
“Hey!’ is a song filled with the sing-along goodness of a one-word chorus — Heeeeeeeyyyeey — and over-the-horizon melancholy that punctuates the song’s irrepressible, head bobbing appeal. Light and shade is where it’s at and The Plum Trees have it all in perfect balance with this track, which I feel is both a portent of things to come and a timeless Plum Trees classic.” - Andrea Thompson