Trey Anastasio will hit the road with his new project Ghosts Of The Forest next month. Ghosts Of The Forest will end their debut tour with shows at the Greek Theatres in Los Angeles on April 19 and Berkeley on April 20 featuring opening sets from Yo La Tengo and Khruangbin respectively. The Phish frontman discussed both support acts in a new interview with Mike Greenhaus of Relix.

“I had hoped that the two Greek shows, in two different cities, would end up taking on the quality of one singular event, like the Island Tour from ‘98,” Anastasio told Relix in reference to Phish’s famed April 2 – 5, 1998 series of shows in Uniondale, New York and Providence, Rhode Island. “Yo La Tengo and Khruangbin both have an elegant musicality that draws a line between the two nights for me, which makes me happy.”


“I love Yo La Tengo—I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One is my favorite of their albums,” Anastasio added. “Their songs are so good, and there’s an emotional simplicity to their music that feels like they captured lightning in a bottle. I love Georgia’s [Hubley] drumming. Ira [Kaplan] is such a cool guitar player. And all three of their vocals are great. I’m excited to meet them. I’m a fan.”

“My daughter turned me on to Khruangbin after she saw them at a festival a couple years ago, and I love them,” Trey commented. “They have their finger on the pulse. I love how melody-centric they are, particularly the bass, which was the first thing to catch my ear. They sound like they are mining for the universal melody. I believe in that. Music beyond stylistic boundaries—it feels borderless.”

The guitarist gave no further hints as to what to expect from the mysterious Ghosts Of The Forest. Anastasio’s new band features Phish drummer Jon Fishman, Trey Anastasio Band bassist Tony Markellis, keyboardist Ray Paczkowski and vocalist Jennifer Hartswick, along with vocalist Celisse. JamBase reported Trey has prepared original music and new production for the limited run of performances, which brings to mind comparisons to 8 Foot Fluorescent Tubes, a project that only played one show back on April 17, 1998 at the old Higher Ground in Winooski, Vermont. “First Tube,” “Sand” and “Mozambique” were debuted that night. Two short clips of Ghosts Of The Forest have been shared thus far:


Tickets for L.A. are on sale now via Ticketmaster as are tickets for Berkeley.

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