Name: Desert Flowers
Brand: Heather Trost

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

BING174

{"blocks": [{"data": {"text": "BING174"}, "type": "paragraph"}]}

Colour

Black

Colour details

Discogs ID

Format multiplier

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format detail

Format Music GB

Limited edition

Release date

2022-11-11

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier GB

Forte

Tax rate GB

Standard:20

UPC / Barcode

600197017715

{"blocks": [{"data": {"text": "600197017715"}, "type": "paragraph"}]}

Total Cap

1 / Extended format: No / LP / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No / black

BING174CD

{"blocks": [{"data": {"text": "BING174CD"}, "type": "paragraph"}]}

600197017722

{"blocks": [{"data": {"text": "600197017722"}, "type": "paragraph"}]}

1 / CD / Extended format: No / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No

Artist

Heather Trost

Genre GB

Folk

Label GB

Ba Da Bing!

Ba Da Bing! is a record label and artist management company based in Brooklyn, NY. With a passion for independent music, Ba Da Bing! has been curating and promoting exceptional talent since [year]. From indie rock to folk to experimental sounds, our diverse roster of artists represents the best of the underground music scene.

As a label, we strive to provide a platform for artists who push boundaries and defy genres. We believe in the power of music to inspire and connect people, and we are dedicated to supporting musicians who create meaningful and thought-provoking work.

With an extensive catalog of releases spanning over [number] years, Ba Da Bing! has become synonymous with quality and innovation. Our team works closely with our artists to ensure their vision is realized while also providing them with the resources they need to succeed in today's ever-changing music industry.

Heather Trost is a talented violinist and vocalist hailing from Albuquerque, New Mexico. With her mesmerizing performances, she has captivated audiences around the world. Notably, Heather has collaborated with renowned artist Zach Condon on his Beirut albums, showcasing her exceptional musical abilities.

Her unique sound and style have drawn comparisons to artists such as Meg Baird, Nighttime, Linda Smith, Fran, and Death and Vanilla. Heather's music encompasses a diverse range of influences that blend seamlessly together to create an enchanting experience for listeners.

With her distinct voice and mastery of the violin, Heather Trost continues to push boundaries in the music industry. Her collaborations with various artists demonstrate her versatility and passion for creating extraordinary melodies. Discover the captivating world of Heather Trost's music today.

As Heather Trost put together her new album Desert Flowers, she imagined herself sitting out on the mesa amidst the arid climate and sand. Even with such little water to survive, wildflowers bloom. This vision is an embellishment of Trost’s Albuquerque surroundings, an intersection of rural splendor and emptiness. She remains focused on those purple, yellow and orange flowers with faces beaming up to the sky, thriving on very little. “How does a flower grow in the desert?” she sings. Desert Flowers postulates the potential for new life. Using the messages from the unconscious during sleep, the record ultimately conceives a bridge to the world beyond our own.

Written and recorded in her home studio, Trost began with harmonic frameworks, allowing the melodies to naturally take root. Introductory track “Frog And Toad Are Friends” - yes, named after the book - is like a surf song from a sci-fi movie. Trost sees it as a mindwipe, “a playful kind of romp to help shake off the cobwebs and get the bones moving.” 

The album ripens as it progresses, and “Sandcastles” best embodies the spirit of the record. Lush strings and bass are complimented by a slow guitar groove, as Trost soulfully fantasizes about Earth’s regeneration. “In time, the bullets and tanks, and all of humanity’s violent creations will melt back into mountains and the ocean,” she says.

From there, Trost sharpens her lyrical focus. “The Devil Never Sleeps” is about trusting one’s intuition, and “Blue Fish” (which features prominently in the new Peter Strickland film Flux Gourmet) recounts a dream resembling a cryptic prophecy: “a gray bird appeared to me on a pebble beach. When the bird opened his beak there was a blue fish flopping around and speaking to me.” Continuing the themes of Nature and transcendence, “You Always Gave Me Succor” describes a moving encounter with a coyote which left her feeling watched over, as she witnessed an otherworldly spirit. “Hear you howl deep inside my heart,” she sings. “When my feet can’t bear the concrete/Follow you to the river.” She has often gone back to that memory whenever reaching a crossroads in life.

“Your Favorite Color” is about the metaphysical bond between loved ones, even after death. Trost cites a few dream visits from kith and kin, and the intense mixture of love, loss, and comfort that washed over her in those moments of resurrection. Each song conveys how opening ones eyes, both literally and metaphysically, is the key to finding beauty.

Integral to the record’s creation was Trost’s cohort in A Hawk and A Hacksaw and record label Living Music Duplication, Jeremy Barnes. “This album wouldn’t sound the way it does without his wonderfully discerning and courageous ear,” she says. Much like her previous two albums, Agistri and Petrichor, the record was primarily recorded at their home studio.

Many of the tracks on Desert Flowers were created during difficult years, during which Trost’s strident creativity offered a much-needed path to solace. “Maybe these songs are a bit like desert flowers,” she reflects, “pushing their way towards the sun, and in turn searching and pushing roots deep into the ground for water. As above, so below, the light and the dark, extroverted and introverted, color and monochrome.”