Paul & The Tall Trees

The solo endeavor of Staten Island singer/songwriter Paul Schalda, Paul & the Tall Trees blends warm soul, rustic Americana, and lightly psychedelic rock into an inviting sound. Schalda had already logged nearly two decades as a working musician when he launched the project, issuing his Paul & the Tall Trees debut, Our Love in the Light, in 2016. Two years afterward came the sophomore album So Long, and in 2021 the five-track I Understand EP followed.

Before settling into an acoustic-driven approach as Pablo in 2005, Schalda had spent more than ten years performing across hardcore and straight-ahead rock. Assisted by his musically inclined father and brother, he issued a pair of well-received folk-rock LPs under that name and then set the project aside in 2009. After several years spent touring as guitarist for soul man Charles Bradley, Schalda chose to develop his own material once more. Adopting the Paul & the Tall Trees moniker, he joined Brooklyn label Big Crown Records and cut his first LP, Our Love in the Light, which appeared in 2016.

Around the same period Schalda united with his father, William Schalda, Sr., and brothers Will and Carmine to form the doo wop-influenced group the Sha La Das, whose debut album Love in the Wind surfaced on Daptone in 2018. Paul & the Tall Trees resurfaced the following year via the Big Crown release So Long. During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, Schalda and longtime collaborator Tommy Brenneck tracked a five-song Paul & the Tall Trees EP. Deeply personal and poignant, I Understand arrived in August 2021.