The folk duo Arborea makes music that belongs in a forest somewhere, among streams, toadstools and songbirds. Even the name conjures up images of trees, which was intentional on their part. Shanti and Buck Curran are purveyors of rural music — despite the fact that they make their home in urban Lewiston.

“There’s a reason our music sounds like that. My grandfather owns 80 acres of land around Sumner, and my mom lives out there,” said Shanti Curran, banjo player and vocalist for the group, who play Saturday night at Roots & Tendrils in Belfast. “When we first moved back to Maine, we lived in one of their cabins on the lake. We go there as much as we possibly can. We had been raised in the big city, so being out in the woods is really an inspiration for us.”

Both the Currans grew up in Norfolk, Va., though Shanti was born in Maine. The duo met in Norfolk, while Buck Curran worked at a music store called Rambling Conrads, which played host to multitudes of traveling folk musicians.

“[Buck] was exposed to all this music over the years, which is where he picked up his guitar style,” said Shanti. “He’s very influenced by old blues musicians, and by [the British folk-blues guitarist] Martin Simpson.”

Shanti Curran, despite growing up in a musical household and being married to a musician, resisted jumping on board the “band” wagon, as it were. She wanted to try other artistic pursuits. It was the banjo, however, that finally won her over.

“I always preferred doing photography. To me, playing guitar and doing shows was always sort of ho-hum,” she said. “Buck always tried to get me to play. He got me a banjo one year, and put it in a minor tuning, which I’ve always felt an affinity for. I guess I was a late bloomer. I really, really liked it. Now I play all the time.”

In just three years, Arborea has released three full-length albums, all of which were recorded at their home in Lewiston. “Wayfaring Summer” came out in 2007, followed by a self-titled album in 2008 and “House of Sticks” this past winter. The band’s haunting, shimmering, sometimes spooky songs are both close and familiar, and at the same time oddly strange — like a story you’ve been told hundreds of times that’s suddenly been turned ever so slightly on its head.

Arborea find themselves in kinship with other independent folk bands of the day. Groups and artists such as Devendra Banhart, Fleet Foxes, Vetiver and Six Organs of Admittance all share one common thread — old, traditional styles melded with the progressive, alternative, sometimes psychedelic musical underpinning of today. Arborea have maintained ties with some of these artists, and have called upon them to donate a song to their benefit compilation, “Leaves of Life,” out last June on Darla Records.

“We always see news stories and watch films about the terrible things that happen in the world, and half the time we end up in tears,” said Shanti. “You know, you may not be able to change the world yourself, but you can do a little to help a few, and that’s better than nothing. So we got our friends together to put together this album. All the proceeds are going to the World Food Program. I’m really happy we’ve put something like this out into the world.”

The compilation features songs from Devendra Banhart, Marissa Nadler, Alela Diane and Mariee Sioux, Mi and Lau, Fern Knight, Larkin Grimm, and Maine natives Micah Blue Smaldone, Cursillastas, Big Blood and many more. To purchase, visit www.darla.com. Arborea will play at 8 p.m. Saturday at Roots & Tendrils in Belfast with Sun Well, another Maine folk group, which features Shanti Curran’s cousin Jessey Kendall. For more information, visit www.myspace.com/arborea2, and www.rootsandtendrils.com.