The ambience of North Carolina’s Lost In The Trees have announced their third LP Past Life, set for release Friday 14th of February, and we’ve got an exclusive stream to bless your Tuesday ears.
Frontman Ari Picker has noted of a different direction for Past Life, avoiding the melancholy sentiments that themed the band’s previous records; “I wanted to reach out and grab the music rather than have it come from some internal place.” Past Life pertains to more of an electronic-rock configuration that has resulted in more modern minimal arrangements with a deep emphasis of rhythm and groove.
Past Life witnesses the band’s first collaboration with an outside producer, namely Nicolas Vernhes (Deerhunter, Atlas Sound, Dirty Projectors). Vernhes has harnessed this newfound minimal aesthetic for the band, stripping away the orchestral density and instead opting for soul-inflected guitars, a throbbing groove and allowing Picker’s vocals to soar.
Despite drifting in a new direction, fans charmed by the likes of All Alone In An Empty House and The Wall Street Journal’s ‘Best Album of 2012’ – A Church That Fits Our Needs – will need not worry. Picker’s double-threat of haunting lyrics and ethereal delivery are still emphatically represented within Past Life, the band have merely delved into a somewhat more folk-pop accessibility championed by a consistent floating melodicism crowned by Relix as “achingly beautiful”.
