Description of Lost in the Trees's Music:

Chamber folk, contemporary folk, Americana

Comparisons:

Lost in the Trees hail from Chapel Hill, NC, so a comparison to other North Carolina-based bands and artists like Band of Horses, the Avett Brothers, and Tift Merritt isn't too much of a stretch. Still, the septet is stylistically more to the point of chamber folk or orchestral pop, they may be more strongly compared to other such up-and-coming bands like Loch Lomond or Grand Hallway.

Fans of the Decemberists, Iron & Wine, and Fleet Foxes may also appreciate the work of Lost in the Trees, as it has that same cross-genre appeal as many of the young indie-folk bands on the scene.

Lost in the Trees Lineup:

Ari Picker – writer/vocals
Emma Nadeau – french horn/vocals
Drew Anagnost - cello
Leah Gibson - cello
Jenavieve Varga - violin
Yan Westerlund - drums
Mark Daumen - tuba

Recommended CDs by Lost in the Trees:

All Alone in an Empty House (Anti-, 2008)

Time Taunts Me (Trekky, 2007)

As of November 2011, Lost in the Trees was preparing a follow-up full-length to All Alone in an Empty Room; release date unknown.

Purchase/Download MP3s:

"Walk Around the Lake" (from All Alone in an Empty House)
"A Room Where Your Paintings Hang" (from All Alone in an Empty House)
"If You're Afraid of the Dark" (from Time Taunts Me)

Lost in the Trees Biography:

Born of the fertile soils of central North Carolina's seemingly bottomless independent music scene, Lost in the Trees is a musical collective of sorts.

Taking cues from classical chamber music, indie rock, contemporary art-pop, and the vast field of American folk music, they blend it all together into a style of music as vibrant and diverse as a forest full of trees. Hence, their name, no doubt.

At seven members, the band is certainly one of the larger up-and-coming outfits in contemporary or indie folk music. Still, their eclectic and imaginative sound ranges from the sort of thing Decemberists fans might cotton to, all the way to a far more cinematic backdrop. It's not unthinkable that Lost in the Trees's music could be used to score a feature film.

Frontman Ari Picker has been known to tout influences as standard as the Beatles and the Beach Boys, as well as Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), Pink Floyd, and other innovative classic rock bands.

Though they're based in North Carolina, the troupe bears a remarkable resemblance to a very similarly prolific indie music scene in Portland and Seattle. The connection between the two separate corners of the country is notable. Each area is full of water and mountains, a certain pastoral influence, and an ardent progressivism. Their work also brings to mind that of Nickel Creek alumnus Chris Thile, and the project he's currently entangled in with Yo Yo Ma.

Still, to compare Lost in the Trees to any other style or scene happening around the country seems almost too easy.

The fact that Picker never studied classical music until college makes the whole thing even more interesting. His arrangements seem so heavily rooted in the stuff, it's almost like he's trying to make contemporary music but the classical roots are too deep. As it happened,though, Picker enrolled at the Berklee conservatory in Boston to study film scoring. It was there that he became enamored with long-ago artists like Shostakovich and Mahler before forming Lost in the Trees, bailing on Boston, and returning to his hometown of Chapel Hill, N.C.

Now, with a small handful of recordings under the belt, the band has been gaining traction. Paste Magazine called them the "Best of What's Next" in 2010, they've inked a deal with Anti- Records, and have set out on a worldwide tour. Dates and other information can be found on their website.