First of all, it’s pronounced “thoo-zhuh,” and it’s the genus name of North American cedar trees. It’s an oddly appropriate name for this band, which features members of Mirza.

Thuja’s amorphous layers of piano, organ, guitar, accordion, percussion, and electronics swirl together into woodsy environments of sound, reinforced by natural phenomena such as snapping sticks or scraping rocks.

Listening to Thuja is like navigating a hazy dreamscape: things seem familiar, but it is impossible to predict what will happen next. Sometimes shafts of light filter through the canopy of sound; other times the pieces remain dark and mysterious. But Thuja is more intriguing than frightening:

Thuja ‎– The Deer Lay Down Their Bones (1999):

Thuja ‎– Ghost Plants (2002):

Thuja ‎– All Strange Beasts Of The Past (2002):

Thuja ‎– Hills (2002):

Thuja ‎– Pine Cone Temples:

Discogs