When you hear ‘Champion Trees,’ you probably think of the redwoods nestled in Sequoia National Park, or an apple tree that’s been producing apples for centuries, maybe even the tree of your childhood that you insisted on climbing.
What you probably don’t think of is an indie rock band from South Africa.
Champion Trees is a band from Cape Town, South Africa, that recently moved to the UK and released its second album, A Ducks Water Off My Back on November 20, 2025. They are still unknown, and just getting into the public’s eye. It’s a shift musically from their previous album, NOW 3000.
Seemingly coming into their style, the band held onto their guitars, but also grabbed a clarinet and violin. With clear influences from bands like Black Country, New Road, they’ve dived headfirst into beautiful instrumentation under the steady guitar and an off-kilter voice.
Standout songs like the opener of the new album, “I Wear A Shirt That Says Australia,” perfectly show the band’s talent. This song opens with a simple acoustic guitar melody before building with drums, clarinet, and keys, all reserved but placed with intent. All of this under lyrics that paint a picture of life growing up and trying to find direction. One lyric in particular that resonates with me is, “I wear a shirt that says Australia, so people know I’m not from there.”
Another standout, “I Want To Sound Like a Ghost,” is about the singer trying to find his voice. The song follows a beautiful arc, with the repeated opening talking about things he wants to sound like. From the cave system of his throat to a drawbridge drawn up, the lyrics feel distant and different. The author’s call not wanting to sound like everyone else matches the steady guitar they lay over. Next, the band jumps into the chorus about the author finding himself imitating someone’s imitations of blues. From there, he describes the band and his wants with beautiful imagery of the things around him, like his want for a larger band and an oblivion banjo rested by the bedside, or a microphone balanced on a stack of books. Lastly, moving back to the chorus, he says he’s been imitating that imitation his whole life.
Overall, the album is solid and seems to be getting the band some deserved attention. Although Champion Trees sounds similar to its predecessors of the genre (bands like Black Country New Road and Arcade Fire), it still feels fresh and unique. It’s very rare that a band delivers words that feel like high school poetry: profound realizations that only feel profound when you think about them, written with vocabulary, but not experience. The band is at an interesting point of moving away from home and starting something new. Instrumentality, that feels reserved and messy, but beautiful and calculated.
Maybe there will be a point when I feel this type of music is overdone and overplayed, but that day is not today. So although their tree might not have reached its ‘champion status’, its roots are growing, its trunk is healthy, and its fruits are delicious.
