Scattered Trees at The Launch Pad at Spike Hill

There is a definite sense of loss to be heard in Scattered Trees' newest crop of music. The songs that inhabit the Chicago band's latest album Sympathy are melodic, yet melancholy, rooted from a place a familial grieving. After the passing of his father, lead singer Nate Eisland found a powerful, therapeutic outlet in songwriting, eventually sharing his deeply personal pieces of work with his band. Though Scattered Trees were moving in contrary directions at the time, Sympathy brought the band back together, forging a strong relationship amongst all involved. In our latest concert release, you can hear it. Here the band intertwine multi-part harmonies, dramatic highs and lows, and lyrics on love and loss like tightly clasped fingers. They are bonded, supportive, propping up one of its' own, and creating something beautiful in the process.

For Scattered Trees, Sympathy is a labor of love that almost didn't happen. The band grew up together in the outskirts of Chicago, playing music together in various groups over the years. They became a family in more ways than one, with some of the members sharing last names -albeit for different reasons. Scattered Trees became a staple of Chicago clubs, but as time passed, the band's members were drawn to various parts of the country. Scattered Trees as a band looked all but over. And then, tragedy struck. Lead singer Nate Eiesland's father passed away, and while mourning, Nate picked up his guitar again and started penning a record dedicated to his memory. Those songs became Sympathy.

The album is a focused, deeply personal collection of songs that finds Scattered Trees experimenting with lush multi-part harmonies, constructing dynamic builds, and exploring the intricacies of love and loss. Opening with "Bury the Floors," Nate sings "It's the house that I built you to fall / We started to walk then we stood up to crawl / So bury the floors and burn down the walls / to find ourselves by morning." Driving rock epics like "Four Days Straight" rub shoulders with melancholic elegies like "Where You Came From." The album's title track starts with a stripped-down plaintive mandolin, ultimately fading into a slow-burning orchestral groove. Melting into "Five Minutes," Scattered Trees continues the build until the track bursts forth. The band rounds out the record with the mournful acoustic closer "On Your Side," a fitting tribute for a deeply heartfelt and therapeutic album.