The second album from North Carolina chamber-pop collective Lost in the Trees opens on a note of uncertainty, a far-off piano playing a chilling minor chord. It's a good indication of what's to come. Over the course of a dozen songs, frontman Ari Picker tries to make sense of his mother's suicide against a backdrop of rich orchestration, piled generously atop a base of delicate acoustic folk like heaping spoonfuls of vanilla frosting. Given the subject matter, it's no surprise that the mood is grim; buried deep within the swirling layers of strings, Picker's desperate falsetto sounds like a boy crying for help from within a blizzard. The result is songs suited less for a rock club than a church sanctuary, with Picker playing the forlorn choirboy.

Listen To Lost in the Trees' "Red":

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• Photos: Random Notes

“Time to Pretend”

Listening to MGMT’s breakthrough song, one might interpret it as being about the excesses of rock stardom, but it’s actually about the duo’s pet praying mantis. Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden told Rolling Stone they got the idea from the insect's jerky movements. The mantis died, but the two bandmates kept the egg sack and allowed the hundreds of eggs to hatch. “We tried to name them all, but they died after a day,” said Goldwasser, with VanWyngarden chiming in, “But the praying mantis dance inspired us.”