Ari Picker felt exhausted and burned out by Lost In The Trees’ A Church That Fits Our Needs. The 2012 album memorialized Picker’s mother, who committed suicide in 2008. The project was deeply personal and deeply ambitious. It made many critics’ 2012 top-10 lists (including the top spot for the Wall Street Journal), and it led the North Carolina band to appear at New York’s Lincoln Center for the American Songbook Series. But the tour that preceded that show was fraught with challenges: Rock clubs weren’t the ideal venues for the band’s delicate dynamics and string arrangements for cellos and violins. After all that, Picker questioned his desire to make another album. But he has made another. Past Life (Anti-) jettisons many of Church’s identifying markers: It’s abstract and impressionistic rather than overtly personal, and it’s minimalist rather than maximalist. Picker will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our brand new Lost In The Trees feature.
Picker: Sibelius’ violin concerto is one of, if not the most, beautiful and romantic pieces of music I’ve ever heard. Christian Ferras puts his life into this performance. Please, grab a beer and lay in the middle of your floor and listen to this work and let your heart break. The violin passages stab and weep, climb and cascade, holding each tension for just the right amount of time before releasing it and tossing it back to the dark and brooding orchestra. The piece ranges from poignant moments to soundscapes as vast and dark as the ocean. If you feel inclined to watch the performance, note his tears at 7:59 during the second movement. Christian’s battles with depression eventually led to his suicide, and you catch a glimpse of his absolutely raw emotion here. Heartbreaking.
Video after the jump.
