live: lost in the trees

New York was pretty gross last night — wet, muggy, raining. While my trip to Bowery Ballroom was not fun, Lost in the Trees made for a great pairing with what was going on outside. This North Carolina septet plays visceral symphonic folk that’s at times spooky, emotional, and majestic, and they blew me away. Most of the songs came from the band’s latest, All Alone In An Empty House, which Anti- is re-releasing on Aug. 10 (it originally came out via Trekky Records in 2008).

Aside from tapping his feet and nodding his head a few times, frontman Ari Picker didn’t even really need to conduct the group, who built their strings, electric bass, percussion, accordion, and French horn, and more around his acoustic guitar and impassioned vocals. Particularly haunting was the time signature-changing “Walk Around The Lake,” anchored on bass drum booms paired with high-pitched string swells and a few bluesy riffs.

The obvious highlight, though, was “Fireplace,” with a shouted chorus and driving electric guitar line. And while the venue was significantly more crowded at the end of the band’s 45 minutes (they were opening for Plants & Animals), there was still space for them to jump down to the floor for an acoustic set-closer/sing-along. These folks definitely had a couple of Arcade Fire moments — especially when multi-instrumentalist Emma Nadeau backed up Picker with her soprano — but their classical slant still sets them apart from anyone else.