The Bottom String Session w/ Lost in the Trees

Photo credit: D.L. Anderson

Lost in the Trees is a band whose name has become synonymous with the North Carolina music scene, and for a good reason.  Lost in the Trees can best be summed up as a powerhouse orchestral-folk band that can go from making you want to dance to making you want to cry within a matter of minutes.  Although it has been said for many bands, you've not heard Lost in the Trees the way that it should be heard if you've not seen them life.  Fortunately I've had the grace to see them on multiple times and which each performance they outdid the previous one, but the show at the Trekky Records Day Party for Hopscotch Music Festival was by far the best.  For those of you not familiar with Hopscotch, it is a music festival put on by Indy Weekly, a Raleigh magazine, which showcased some of the best bands North Carolina had to offer.  Lost in the Trees headlined the Trekky Day Party at the Pour House and had the placed filled from wall to wall.  Their set consisted primarily of new songs but "Fireplace" tore the place down as their last song.



Ari and Emma were gracious enough to sit down and talk with me after their breathtaking set and answer a few questions, and not to mention blow me away with their performance of "Wooden Walls of This Church Forest" in the stairwell after the show.


TBS:
So how has life been since the re-issue came out?  I'm sure things have really been picking up for you guys lately.

Emma:
We've been busier, thats for sure.  I guess all the stakes are higher, I mean more people are seeing us when we're out on the road so every show is really important.  I mean it's been really fun, it's fun to ride to expectations.

TBS:
Back in 2008 you did Project Symphony.  Can you tell me a bit about the process of going through the preparations for that?

Ari:
Yeah, so the idea was to have a concert and use the ticket money raised from that concert to host another concert with a new composer, so I wrote the first symphony and that took me all summer, like organizing the volunteer orchestra, Trekky Records and Emma, just all of the logistics of getting a conductor, getting the players, getting the room, selling tickets, and doing ticket sales online, and getting endorsements and sponsors.  It was a lot of work, but Lost in the Trees plays and Phil Cook from Megafaun played, and the symphony.  We just haven't had time to do the next concert.

TBS:
So you guys have intentions of doing another one?

Emma:
Oh, yeah.

Ari:
I think Project Symphony has this second kind of tier idea of Lost in the Trees going into classrooms and presenting collaberations with youth orchestras and meeting in an educational setting with pop.

TBS:
Right, like how you guys did something with School of Science and Math one year?

Ari:
Yeah, so that kind of stuff

TBS:
I heard you were re-orchestrating a Bon Iver song?  Can you tell me some details about that?

Ari:
Yeah, I've just been working on it for the past week or so and they just gave us his vocal and we just kind of built like another backing track underneath it.  So that should be out sometime within the next few months.

TBS:
You guys have built up quite a name for yourselves in North Carolina.  What's been your favorite venue in the state to play at?

Emma:
Hmmmmm

Ari:
Broad Street Music?  Haha

Emma:
I'm pretty bad at remembering where we've played

Ari:
In North Carolina?  I like the Cat's Cradle

Emma:
Yeah, Cats Cradle.

TBS:
If you could tour with any touring band who would it be?

Ari:
Haha, we can both choose

Emma:
How about we both choose the one that the other one would choose.  I think that Ari would choose Blonde Redhead

Ari:
Yeah, she got it.

Emma:
I don't even know who I would choose.

Ari:
Yeah, oh, what's her name?  From the eighties, what's her name?

Emma:
I don't know, she might tour still.  Kate Bush?

Ari:
Kate Bush.  Kate Bush and Blonde Redhead, Lost in the Trees tour, 2011.

TBS:
With you guys being one of the premier bands in North Carolina, you've got a bit of experience in playing shows with local bands.  Who do you think in the NC scene people should be looking out for?

Emma:
Man, listening to Embarassing Fruits tonight, I hope they do something.  They've got this awesome sound, you know?

Ari:
I like Old Bricks.  I like The Toddlers too, but I don't know if they're playing anymore.  As far as local groups I mean, I like The Bowerbirds a lot but I guess they're pretty well established.

TBS:
Are you guys already working on new material for a new record yet?

Ari:
Yeah, we really hope to record a new record and demo the whole thing and start recording it next early next year and release it at the end of next year.  It's not all in my hands, but I'd like it to be out at the end of next year.

TBS:
What has been your favorite band to play shows with?

Ari:
Plants and Animals.

Emma:
Yeah, Plants and Animals.  We did a tour in June with Plants and Animals for three to four weeks.

TBS:
What's the proudest moment of your career?

Ari:
Oh shit, I know this haha.  Uhm, Project Sypmhony is a big one.

TBS:
So whats next for Lost in the Trees?  I know you've got a small tour coming up soon.

Emma:
Four weeks, thats not a small tour, haha just kidding.  That'll be fun.  Then we'll be working on the new record and then touring again.

Ari:
Yeah, thats kind of like our endless cycle.

Emma:
Of fun, though.

Ari:
I'll tell you, when I graduate college, that'll be the proudest moment of my career.  Haha, probably.