Being a born and raised city kid, I think my first exposure to the concept of a treehouse was via The Brady Bunch episode where Bobby falls while trying to climb into one and consequently develops a fear of heights. At the time, I'd guess I imagined a treehouse as a place of refuge — peaceful, serene. A place where I could be alone and enjoy the view, observe others without being observed, and indulge in whatever hobbies I might have that I don't want to share with the world.

Listening to the latest album from the Virginia Gentlemen, I imagine their treehouse as a place they can go to belt out their favorite pop tunes — in this case, predominantly by female-presenting artists — irrespective of how well-suited they might be to either faithfully covering the material or transforming it into something interesting and new.

If that sounds harsh, it's not meant to diminish how lovely these guys can sing and how shiny and bright the engineering and production is from James Gammon. Most of it is all nice and good and fine and pleasant. I couldn't even call it overly basic, because although some of the slower tunes lean on less complex arrangements, there are enough selections that have a fair bit going on in the background.

It's just not all that interesting or engaging or stimulating or fun. And occasionally, it feels utterly misguided.

Probably not intentionally, the repertoire — as performed on this album — sorts itself pretty neatly into four categories (As I Am is perhaps the one exception, as it could fall into either 2 or 4 as shown below):

1) Satellite & Eat Your Young: mid-tempo bop. The reproductions are mostly faithful. The muted trumpet-y thing in the opening of Eat Your Young is new and kinda neat.  Neither tune lifts me beyond a resting pulse.

2) Evergreen, Always, Love on the Brain: all three have elements of R&B/soul but you'd be hard-pressed to hear it in the treatments offered here. Maybe it's wise that the soloists don't try to replicate the unique vocal qualities of YEBBA, Daniel Caesar, and Rihanna. But the first two songs should not sound as alike as they do. And unless it was a purposeful effort to make the third sound like it was re-arranged by a Temptations tribute group, the interpretation is a misfire.

3) One Last Time & Elastic Heart: the closest thing to "uptempo" that the group is willing to try. Except in the former, they can't resist a slowed-down opening and closing, and the processing of the backbeat is painfully weak. In the latter, any semblance of emotion in the song is obliterated by legato word echoes in the pads, a distracting sound/syllable choice in the backs that sounds like ducks honking, and a soloist who seems rather blasé about the state of their emotions.

4) I Put a Spell on You, I Can't Make You Love Me, The Chain: I suppose it's a valid creative choice to ditch the screaming of Jay Hawkins and give his classic a milquetoast, almost doo-wop feel that makes it sounds like dozens of others. Ditto for offering a boy band rendition of the second song that robs it of all of its pathos and heartbreak. Or you certainly can take a Fleetwood Mac classic and re-voice to try and sound … I'm not sure … moodier? You're allowed to do any or all of that — and they have. And I'm just not a fan of those choices.

"But their scores are pretty good!" you note. That's true. Because objectively speaking, there's plenty of good work here, notwithstanding my feelings on how they elected to do it. Maybe you'll feel differently. That's part of the beauty of art.

The Virginia Gentlemen always bring fine group singing with real musicality that doesn't have to be artificially constructed. That's not nothing. But lately, the Gents have recorded primarily mid-tempo, sensitive songs, the success rate of which depends entirely on the source material selected and the precise group members at the microphones at that time.

The group's release Pasta Nights started this mid-tempo, sensitive song blueprint but flourished from the James Taylor jump. Here, Satellite has the beauty, but a repetitive arrangement and the lack of full emotional commitment or intensity makes this song feel a lot less vibrant which becomes a familiar outcome on Treehouse. After two more gentle, same-ish tempo tunes roll out, it's feeling a lot like a "gentle rock" station on the dial instead of creative, distinct works worth leaning into. I gave the first three tracks of Pasta Nights a "5", and the first three of Treehouse a "4". It's a small gap, but really strong first impressions … that's certainly something, too.

The cold opening on One Last Time sounds a little shaky, but we finally some nice kick with this one. A zippy tempo debuts to add forward momentum, with a nice drum kit from Cavan Meade. Always features a similar strong finish with nice passion. I Put a Spell on You is the kind of ticket the Gentlemen need to keep punching: a bowtie and top hat tune with modern stylings and big dynamics. And Elastic Heart adds a lot of genuine fun to this release, with great vocal dexterity from lead Ryan Poquis, who lands perfectly on every note after impressive acrobatics to get there.

There's a three-pack of weaker tunes before the big finish. The abrupt change in the middle of I Can't Make You Love Me isn't working. It goes from relatable desperation to … honky tonk? ... pulling the listener right out of the foundation laid. Love on the Brain feels plodding. And hours before listening to The Virginia Gentlemen's version of The Chain, I heard the Jackson Jill's recent rendition. We're not here to compare different groups but rather to focus on the submitting group, however I'd encourage the Gentlemen to queue up that one and run a strengths/weaknesses comparison just to see the variety of ways to handle an iconic classic in 2025. Productive group bonding, perhaps. We do get a really refreshing closer with As I Am, which features strong, joyful singing that I'll always be happy to listen to.

Again, genuine musicality is a treat, and listening to a James Gammon production remains an a cappella highlight. The Gentlemen will have to do a bit more on the source material and arrangement front to kick up the listener engagement.

In my review of the group's previous album, Pasta Nights, one of my main critiques for the Virginia Gentlemen was the lack of variety amongst the set list, particularly on the back half of the album. So, I was certainly curious with the latest release of Treehouse to see if the group took that observation to heart and put some variety into the track list, or if it would be more of the previous. My general assessment — they definitely took a step in the right direction with this release, but they still have a ways to go.

Starting the album with Harry Styles is certainly a departure from the last album's James Taylor opener, and while it's not one of Styles's more upbeat tracks, Satellite is energetic enough to be a good introduction into the album. The arrangement opens in a quiet and subtle way in the first verse through the choruses. This eases the listener into the record, which I certainly think is a wise choice. Cooper Davenport's solo line is strong, but also delicate when flipping to his head voice, and the blend between him and Brett Barton in the moments of two-part harmony is spot on.

But, while the group has a more current track list this time around with artists such as Ariana Grande, Hozier, and Sia, there still isn't a huge variety of genres to breakup the album in a substantive way. The Gentlemen try the best they can within each arrangement in the overall musicality of the tracks, notably in Hozier's Eat Your Young and Bonnie Raitt's I Can't Make You Love Me with some tempo changes and dynamic changes, but there's only so much that you can do in that realm from an emotional standpoint. With the latter, it was slightly jarring to hear the tempo speed up on such an iconic song (not to mention one of my favorite songs of all time), and I question if that uptick in tempo caused the overall message to be lost. On the flipside, One Last Time doesn't pack the punch that I am looking for from an Ariana Grande track — Patrick Cloud delivers a well-controlled solo, and the background is right there with him emotionally, but it just lacks that edge.

That's not to say that there aren't plenty of great moments on this release — the musicality of the group comes through and it's clear that these musicians can sing. Special shoutout to Cavan Meade, who is the main vocal percussionist, arranger on multiple tracks, and the deliverer of a beautiful and well-controlled solo on Eat Your Young — talk about being a Swiss Army knife!

I applaud the Gentlemen for taking steps in adding more variety of artists to the track list for Treehouse, but the next step would be to expand outside of their comfort zone a bit and tackle different genres on the next release. If they can do that, that will be the true next era for this very talented group from UVA.