Courtesy of Epitaph
Lost in the Trees
Past Life
Anti-
Enthralling and more than a little spooky, the third Lost in the Trees album features a downsized lineup (from six to four members), but the band’s ethereal essence remains the same. Leader Ari Picker’s elegant orchestral pop is the perfect vehicle for his sweetly melancholy voice, echoing John Vanderslice’s best work in its effortless embrace of profound unease and deep yearning.
While 2012’s A Church That Fits Our Needs was a response to the suicide of Picker’s mother, Past Life is a fever dream of free-association lyrics reflecting on relationships and marked by recurring images of stairs, light and dark, and water. Whether you try to decipher his poetry or simply absorb the unsettled vibe, misty tunes such as “Daunting Friend” and “Night Walking” get under the skin like an exotic itch.
