Trost, Heather

***Third Man Records is chuffed to present to you the New Mexico-based artist Heather Trost’s second or third solo full-length. Petrichor is fresh, unique, and really fucking good. Sonically, this modern psychedelic pop music is as experimental as it is accessible. Petrichor was recorded between 2018 and 2019 by Heather Trost and her husband Jeremy Barnes at their home studio. The two are community activists, urban gardeners, and full-time musicians. Trost has an impressive body of work, notably in collaboration with husband Barnes (Neutral Milk Hotel) on their own record label Living Music Dupli-Cation, and their dazzling and uncategorizable Eastern European folk-influenced band A Hawk And A Hacksaw, where she sings and plays violin, autoharp, keyboards, and other instruments. These seven lush, beautiful songs defy easy categorization, gleefully mixing elements from multiple genres--but it’s never to impress you or show off. You might not even notice how smart the record is until a fifth listen, a testament to how much work was put into the futuristic and shimmering record. We all can have a hard time holding on to a shred of hope. With Trost’s Petrichor, we have a record that sounds like the soundtrack to what might come next, on the off chance that what comes next really doesn’t suck.