Lost in the Trees,… what an intriguing name and what an amazing band from Chapel Hill!
The seven members try a lot of things, and seeing two acoustic and electric guitars, a bass, two cellos, a tuba, a French horn, an accordion, a violin, a drum set and another large drum on stage, I was wondering how all this would fit together,… but it extraordinarily works, very well.
They were celebrating the release of their album ‘All Alone in an Empty House’ on Anti, yesterday at Amoeba record with a free concert. And this a large display for the tiny Amoeba stage, which did not even feel exiguous.
The string arrangements for the mini-chamber orchestra, mixed with the guitars and drums give a dramatic effect and an uniqueness to their sound: it is not classical music, it is not folk music, it is not rock music it is something in between all this, even though they take the term orchestra seriously with two cellos and a violin.
The delicateness of their harmonies is close to that of Sufjan Stevens’ albums, and there is also probably some closeness between Ari Picker’s voice and Stevens’.
It is extremely ambitious songwriting, since at the top of the strings, there are the horn section, an accordion and many more things, and did I mention the vocal harmonies?
I did not concentrate on the lyrics, too absorbed by the novelty of the music, but they appear to be quite personal.
With all these instruments the songs form an eclectic musical landscape, where there is a lot going on, but the sonic background stays very often sad and nostalgic, sometimes agitated and even angry at times, a definitively interesting and creative take on music, mixing elegantly the dramatic with the intimate.