There’s something mystical about Lost in the Trees, the Chapel Hill collective lead by singer-songwriter Ari Picker. Songs verge on poetic, set to soundscapes of lush orchestral pop that is, in turns, chilling and breathtaking.
The band’s new album Past Life, was released in February. Breaking with previous conventions (from All Alone in an Empty House and A Church that Fits Our Needs), Lost in the Trees pared its lineup down to four members and worked with an outsider producer, Nicolas Vernhes. According to a press release, “The question while making Past Life became, ‘How much can we strip away?’ With an approach that forefronts beats and bass-lines, Vernhes and the band lifted away the orchestral density of previous albums – leaving a more direct framework of soul-inflected guitar lines, throbbing groove, and Picker’s soaring vocal hooks. There is a pop quality, buried but always present in previous efforts, that shines on Past Life; not pop in any trivial, retro sense, but the yearning lilt of a Harry Nilsson or Mark Hollis, that floating melodicism that Relix found so ‘achingly beautiful.’”
Lost in the Trees makes a stop at The Mothlight on Tuesday, April 15, at 9:30 p.m. Tiny Creatures also performs. $10 advance/$12 day of show.
Here, the band performs at Moog SoundLab:
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