Q&A: Lost in the Trees

It has been an interesting journey thus far for composer/songwriter Ari Picker. The Berklee College of Music student and his folk orchestra, Lost in the Trees, has evolved from a bedroom recording project to having their next album, All Alone In An Empty House, slated for a fall release on Anti- Records. Having just completed a string of shows with Plants and Animals and the band is embarking on a  summer tour which includes some opening slots for Neko Case. Recently, FILTER caught up with Picker, discussing how he came up with the band’s name, what it was like to work with a producer for the first time and the problem of commuting to school that is a thousand miles away.


How did you come up with the name Lost In The Trees? Is this a name that describes the music or were you actually lost in the tree one day?

I think at the time when I made up the name, I was listening to a lot of programmatic music and anything that put a visual in my head and I wanted a band name that put a visual in someone’s head and people could have different ideas of what it might mean. Unfortunately I don’t have a very exciting answer about how I came up with it other than that.

Your sound is very distinct and I’ve never heard anyone like you guys before. What gave you the idea to add all of the different instruments into the band? It’s not something you associate with folk music but for you guys, it really works. What are the origins of your sound?

I’m just really drawn to the sound of big orchestra and different instruments, which has been around for a really long time. That’s the instrumentation I like to use for my songs. It’s a preference thing I guess. I love acoustic music and instruments.

The albums are studio albums. They are written and recorded before ever played live. The live performances are just us trying to figure out how to play it and make it work as best as we can. I will give that disclaimer to everyone out there.

What was it like working with Scott Soltar (Spoon, St. Vincent) and for that matter, any producer for the first time?

He’s great. I’ve never worked with a producer before, so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect because I’m so particular with what’s on the record but this was a really good thing for me actually because he knew what I wanted. I’d say I wanted a certain type of textures and vibes. I can say that ‘I want this’ something abstract and he’d be able to physically produce what I’m looking for. That was great and I look forward to working with him again.

You just finishing touring with Plants and Animals and have some upcoming gigs with Neko Case. What have you picked up from touring with Plants and Animals because people are really starting to dig your live performance?

They were just incredible musicians and just watching them and seeing how they have such control over their sound was inspiring. They sounded great every night and they had their own sound guy, I was envious of that. We are definitely a band that needs a sound guy. I’d like to focus our live sound on producing the richest and fullest sound possible and we’re all up there with acoustic instruments, so we’d just mic ourselves up and if you mic up an acoustic instrument it can kill the space that an acoustic instrument needs to reverberate and sound correct. We’re still trying to figure out how to maintain our acoustic sound while creating an intense wall of sound when we want it.


How did you guys sign with Anti- Records? What are some of the ways that they helped take you guys to the next level?

It’s been incredible. They’ve been putting their resources into our record and it’s getting a great response so far. We’ve never ridden this ride before with so much support and being able to make music on a full-time basis. I look forward to seeing what else we can do together as a team, but they’ve already done a ton. We were selling our other album out of the trunk of our car for a while.

What’s the songwriting process like? Do you start with lyrics or music?

It’s different for each one. The orchestral ones are pre-composed, we sit there with the piano and use my education and try to write in a traditional classical style, which can be tedious and frustrating yet really rewarding too. It probably takes a half a year to get a decent composition for me (laughs). Not that I’ve written a whole bunch of em. The songwriting process can be with an acoustic guitar or sometimes I’ll write the lyrics separately on a piece of paper. I try to have good themes and ideas that I can capture.

What’s the second half of your 2010 looking like? What can we expect from Lost In The Trees as the year hits its stride?

Hopefully touring a lot and supporting the record, that’s my main focus. I’m working on writing the new record; hopefully we can start recording that, if Anti- will let me of course. That’s gonna be the bulk of it and I have to finish another semester of school, which I need to finish it at some point. I have one semester left. It’s a big pain in the ass to have to commute back and forth from Boston to North Carolina, but I’ve done it a lot so maybe I can move up there for a summer and knock it out and I’ll be good.

Did you accomplish what you originally set out to do at Berklee?

I went to Berklee for film scoring and they start you with classical studies of movie music. I really fell in love with that whole genre that’s the biggest impact the school had on me. Now I have really no interest in studying film music nor moving to LA and climbing that ladder. Maybe if someone comes to me in the future to let me compose a score, then I’ll consider that I suppose. F