Airy

“Lost in the Trees is orchestral folk where the ‘orchestral’ part isn't an afterthought. This is mighty potent stuff.”—NPR

The Chapel Hill, North Carolina music collective Lost in the Trees, fronted by composer and songwriter Ari Picker, drew widespread acclaim for their debut album All Alone in an Empty House (ANTI- Records). Yet in the midst of releasing the album, tragedy struck when Ari's mother, an artist in her own right, took her own life. Picker took the loss of his mother and set about transforming the events into a tribute, composing, writing lyrics, his mother's picture above his writing desk: the same picture that now graces the album's cover. "I wanted to give her a space, in the music, to be, and to become all the things she didn't get a chance to be when she was alive."

The result is A Church That Fits Our Needs, a testament to the power of music to heal and transcend. The new album will be released by ANTI- Records on March 20.

DM Stith, "the peculiar genius" hailed by NME as the "Curious ringmaster," has collaborated with Sufjan Stevens, My Brightest Diamond, Son Lux, Castanets, and recently returned from London where Esquire called his show a "performance of transcendent, spectral majesty. Seriously." His first album, Heavy Ghost (Asthmatic Kitty), a collection of songs rich with strings, polyrhythmic percussion, lofty choirs, epic electronic gestures and Stith's clear-as-a-bell voice, was released in early 2009 to universal critical acclaim which Tiny Mix Tapes called a "singular work from an extremely talented new voice." His follow up, Heavy Ghost Appendices (out May 25, 2010) is described by Stith as "a record of my progression from being an intensely private artist to working with other musicians and performing live."

Catch DM Stith in an intimate show at The Cedar, with opening acts experimental artist Inlets (new album Inter Arbiter out on 4/20/10) and Norwegian multi-instrumentalist/singer-songwriter Silje Nes.

Legendary Irish traditional band Altan are celebrating 25 years together in 2010, and to mark the occasion, they are making a trek back to one of their favorite haunts for a good many of those years--The Cedar! The line-up will feature as always the gorgeous vocals and fiddle of Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh, joined by Dermot Byrne on accordion, Ciarán Curran on bouzouki, Ciaran Tourish on fiddle and whistle, and our own Dáithí Sproule on guitar. Read more »