Listen: Lost In The Trees, "Red"

Before attending the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Ari Picker was recording solo in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He released a self-titled album on Trekky records before heading north to indulged his affinity for classical composition and hone his skills at music school. Upon graduating, he returned to North Carolina and was able to expand Lost In The Trees by recruiting musicians from the Trekky Records collective and the University of North Carolina Orchestra program. The group recorded the critically lauded "All Alone In An Empty House" as their Anti-Records debut in 2010, and will release their follow-up, "A Church That Fits Our Needs," on March 20th. On their forthcoming album, Picker's lush, orchestral compositions swell with string and horn sections, guitar, drums, keys, mandoline, glockenspiels, harp, and other subtle but well-placed additions. It's tempting to think that with such a large group of contributors, Picker's compositions may be over-saturated and busy. Instead, they are spacious, expertly executed pop gems with an intimacy reminiscent of Grizzly Bear's Yellow House and a scope and attention to detail reminiscent of Radiohead. The angelic, often dark harmonies of wordless vocal contributor Emma Nadeau round out Picker's beautiful, sharp work. The album was recorded and produced in North Carolina after Picker lost his mother, also an artist, in the Summer of 2009. He enlisted mastering expert Rob Schnapf (Elliott Smith, Beck) who helps bring forth the album's orchestral depth. It's almost as if the album functions at once as an extended eulogy for his late mother and an extended wail of his own grieving, but Picker suggests that it's something more: “I wanted to give [my mother] a space, in the music, to be, and to become all the things she didn’t get a chance to be when she was alive.” Such a somber foundation might seem to guarantee an album of similar weight, but while there is certainly a darkness present throughout, it is never heavy enough to sink the uplifting swell of the orchestral work and wonderfully arranged compositions. Listen to single, "Red," below, and check out the accompanying video which is full of haunting, arresting images of fractured creation and glitchy destruction. Lost In The Trees is absolutely a band worth following in the future, and one of those rare bands worth unearthing previous work you may have already missed. Enjoy.