Trees
About this track
Trees was the final song written for The Calm Between Storms and the last piece I completed in 2012. Like several songs on the album, it was written on the old piano in Whitney Hall, but by the time I began working on this piece, I felt I had reached a new level both musically and lyrically. From a technical standpoint, the composition challenged me in ways my earlier work had not. Many of the songs on this album were written in the key of C, but Trees moved beyond the musical habits I had developed and pushed me toward something new. More importantly, it became the song that brought together many of the themes I had been exploring throughout the album. The lyrics reflect on impermanence, suffering, loss, death, love, peace, and healing. The trees serve as silent witnesses to the human experience. They endure through generations, through conflict and renewal, watching lives unfold beneath their branches. Yet despite the hardships described in the song, I never intended it to be hopeless. At its heart, Trees is about resilience. It is about the possibility of healing when we allow it, and the ways in which life continues even after profound loss. For many years, I considered this one of my strongest compositions. Recently, I rediscovered it while reflecting on my study abroad experience examining intergenerational trauma, World War II, and the Holocaust. To my surprise, the song felt just as relevant and meaningful as it did when I first wrote it. Few pieces have stayed with me in quite the same way. More than a decade later, I remain deeply proud of this song. It stands not only as the conclusion of the album, but as one of the most personal and moving works I have ever created.