Shh. As the title of the album suggests, this is best heard "All Alone in an Empty House". Normally, I tend to be drawn to simple music that makes the most of its melodies, whose sum truly outperforms its parts. But then there are multi-instrumental masterpieces like this one that start simple, before stepping outside and bringing back a bit more of the world to share. Lost In The Trees captures a brilliance and beauty that has been left behind by most of their contemporaries. The songs that make up All Alone in an Empty House aren't so much subdued as they are subtle. Sure, there's a quietness to each song that can't be denied, but there's also a creativity that can't be contained. It's a creativity that is both calculated and at the same time completely carefree. Between the finger-picked guitars and swelling orchestration, the balance that exists extends beyond the well-trodden plane where most performers plant their feet. This album is not so much a glimpse into the mind of the musician as it is a black hole of human emotion that sucks in its surroundings like a banshee breathing in reverse, signaling signs of life rather than impending doom.
As a classically trained composer at the Berklee School of Music in Boston, MA, frontman Ari Picker plows through each song like a balladeer on Benzedrine, melancholic and on a mission. Each song seems to draw power from places most of us can't even point to. To call Mr. Picker a "prodigy" would be to say that The Beatles were "experimental". Much in the same way that Lennon and company pushed the limit of pop music, Lost In The Trees tests the tried-and-true notions of music itself. Attesting to its brilliance is the fact that All Alone In An Empty House was originally recorded and released back in 2007, while Picker was still in school; however, since being signed to Anti- records, the album has been given a grand re-entrance on a much more sizable stage, complete with additional songs and remastering. While there are certainly some similarities with new label mates The Swell Season, Lost In The Trees stands alone in their own realm, in their own room, in their own empty house, as a troubled soul with too much talent to waste and too much time to reconsider the wrongs in life that were never made right. These songs haunt my soul as assuredly as they inspire it. Hearing it for the first time is like waking up from a dream and finding that the other side of the bed has been abandoned: Freedom filled with fear. You place your hand upon your partner's still imprinted pillow, and the band begins to play...
Highlights: "Walk Around The Lake" and "Fireplace"
