Lost in the Trees—A Church That Fits Our Needs

Chamber pop groups seem to come in bulk these days. Lost in the Trees’ latest release, A Church That Fits Our Needs, arrives at a crucial time in their genre, which is witnessing unprecedented growth.

The Chapel Hill septet return with their third LP, a deeply personal album dedicated to lead vocalist Ari Picker’s late mother, who took her own life in the summer of 2009. Picker wanted to give her a space in the music to “become all the things she didn’t get a chance to be when she was alive.” The album marks the group’s first release with Los Angeles-based ANTI- Records, though it will also be issued through Chapel Hill’s Trekky Records, an important collective hub of Triangle music talent.

This record is a polished testament to what Picker calls “orchestral folk music,” taking nods from the group’s simultaneous use of strings and brass instruments, accordion, bells, musical saw, banjo and mandolin. A graduate of the Berklee College of Music, Picker’s classical training skill maintains a strong presence throughout the album’s entirety. Scott Solter (St. Vincent, Mountain Goats, Okkervil River) produced the album, and his direction serves to seamlessly synchronize the group’s multiple classical and folky instrument sets.

The record opens with “Moment One,” an intro that deploys dark piano and establishes the album’s somber quality. Picker’s vocals are heartfelt, controlled and kept afloat by the band’s instrumental ensemble in the following cut, “Neither Here Nor There.” A crackling drum weaves itself into the musical narrative and is preserved from beginning to end; this harsher, fixed beat counters the waves of pliant violin.

“Red,” the record’s first single, showcases a cappella nicely in the chorus, underscored by powerful violin that fluctuates in its tone according to Picker’s. Falsetto refrains are beautifully executed, holding their place amid the background’s equally powerful female vocals.

Chamber pop is on the brink of tired subgenre status, but with their smart injection of well-choreographed classical instrumentals, Lost in the Trees avoid getting lost in the masses.

—Andrew Karim