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: Going Solo is Roald Dahl’s autobiography, which follows the famous children’s book author (also a British spy, apparently) on his adventures and mishaps through the Second World War as a fighter pilot, oil expeditions in Africa, battles with snakes and lions and all sorts of odd encounters with strange folks. He was 6’6″ tall and got into tons of really painful-sounding accidents. What did this dude not do?! He certainly took life by the balls. It is a quick read, and it gives you the realization that adventure is right outside the door waiting for you. If you dig his dark fiction, then you’ll certainly enjoy this.
Video after the jump.
