Heather Trost

Prior to beginning a solo career, singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Heather Trost contributed to a number of interesting experimental indie rock and folk projects in the 2000s and beyond, most notably as one-half of the acclaimed Balkan-inspired folk-rock duo A Hawk and a Hacksaw. In 2017, she released her full-length solo debut, Agistri, playing various different instruments and veering into psychedelia and loungey space pop sounds. Further records made slight adjustments to the template -- 2020's Petrichor added dreamy folk introspection and 2022's Desert Flowers used more innocent psychedelia -- while tracking her continuing growth as a producer and artist. A native of Albuquerque, New Mexico, Trost teamed up with former Neutral Milk Hotel drummer Barnes in 2004, joining his project A Hawk and a Hacksaw, which took its primary influence from the traditional folk music of Romania, the Czech Republic, and other Balkan countries. Originally signed to U.K. imprint The Leaf Label, Trost's fiddle work and vocals were a primary component of the band's sound, which centered around herself and Barnes as its core duo. Around this same time, she and Barnes joined Zach Condon's project Beirut and were heavily featured on his albums Gulag Orkestar and The Flying Club Cup. Further immersing herself in European folk traditions, Trost moved to Budapest with Barnes in the late 2000s, where they recorded their fourth album, 2009's Délivrance. After leaving The Leaf Label, the pair founded Living Music Duplication (often stylized as L.M. Dupli-Cation) to release their own material, beginning with 2011's Cervantine, which incorporated mariachi and Greek music into their mix. In 2015, Trost released an experimental, limited-edition cassette containing two minimalist keyboard instrumentals under the title Ouroboros on the boutique Cimiotti label. Two years later, she made a proper solo debut with the Agistri LP on her own L.M. Dupli-Cation label. A more song-oriented affair that showed traces of multiple influences including soundtrack music, psychedelic pop, and samba, the album featured appearances by Barnes, Deerhoof guitarist John Dieterich, and Drake Hardin and Rosie Hutchinson of Mammal Eggs. Among its atmospheric psych-pop offerings was a spacey cover of Harry Nilsson's classic "Me and My Arrow." Returning in 2020, this time on Third Man Records, Trost released the more melancholy and intimate Petrichor, which also featured a Nilsson cover in "Jump into the Fire." Trost and Barnes recorded the album themselves in their home studio, a way of working that was repeated for 2022's Desert Flowers. Released by Ba Da Bing, the record combined the big pop sound of her solo debut and the folky intimacy of Petrichor in a tightly focused, melodically rich set of arrangements.
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