High Trees is based on the famous WWII-era legal decision that established the doctrine of promissory estoppel and my relationship with a lawyer who loved the case so much he named his cottage property after it.

I sought to write a song about the discomfort I felt caught between obsessive ideation with someone and facing the grounding pain of betrayal. The poetic lyrics and ethereal quality of the production aim to capture a dissociative spiral that I wanted to be almost painting-like and surreal, as if the evergreens that surrounded us on the dock at High Trees were closing in, crawling to the stars. All the while, we lay next to each other in silence not able (or willing) to exchange a single meaningful word.

I like to think High Trees is about a kind of promissory estoppel of the heart. Lyrically, it was built on broken promises and the weight of giving your word to someone who loves you.