Entertainment
free music: scattered trees
chill out to somechicago folk rock.
With their lushly layered melodies and tender lyrics, nobody can accuse Midwestern indie outfit Scattered Trees of not having depth. After all, these six friends have been through a lot together since the band's beginnings several years ago, and this history shows in their songs. Their upcoming album, Sympathy, is filled with gorgeously melancholic tracks (think Wilco meets The Lonely Forest), and we can't get enough. Frontman Nate Eiesland filled us in.
How do you all know each other?
Alissa and I grew up together in northern Minnesota and I went to school outside of Chicago because of music scene. While there, I ended up meeting the other guys; we found we were like-minded and just hit it off.
So from the beginning, was the band intended to be a professional thing?
Every one of us were so in love with making music and were like, "If we could do this and give the hours of our day to make music, we would."
What's your favorite song off of Sympathy?
It almost feels to me that the record is just one song. It was just such a specific time and I wrote it all within a few months. There was a lot in there that I'm happy I was able to externalize. In a way, this songwriting was cheap therapy [laughing].
What's next for you guys?
We're heading to SXSW for the first official time; we've played unofficially before, but now we're a lot more excited about it. Now we're at the point where people just want to see us and make sure we don't suck live. Which we don't! [laughing].
