A Church That Fits Our Needs - Lost In The Trees (2012)

Ideated from: March of years past. Also on the March 2012 list: The Mars Volta, Vijay Iyer, and one of my all time favorites

I play things very close to the vest most of the time. My private thoughts (aside from writing about them in odd places like this) are indeed pretty private. When I lost my dad in 2018, I went through the same things that everyone does, but I mostly did it without explaining myself to anyone except my wife. I wouldn’t say that was the best or healthiest choice, but it’s how I’ve always worked. So the idea of mourning in public is foreign to me. But any confessional songwriter sees it as their business to think all of their thoughts in public.

This is all to say that A Church That Fits Our Needs is Ari Picker working through his grief for his late mother. He does it with elegance and seriousness, but also in a way that’s life-affirming and won’t bum you out.

Chamber pop arrangements that feature strings and horns in just the right doses complement the guitars and heartfelt vocals perfectly.

The lyrics are often hard to deal with, but it’s hard to deny the power in it.

Tracks I Liked

Icy River - kind of the heart of the record, I think

Tall Ceilings - one of the more upbeat tracks, very compelling