Artist: The Lonely Forest
Release: We Sing the Body Electric!
Label: Burning Building Recordings
Rating: VII

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Indie Schmarm, being the giant that it is, gets CDs in the mail on occasion. Most go quietly into the night, but every once in a while/blue moon, some emerge into the lovely, bright daylight. We Sing the Body Electric! was one of those CDs that kept itself from being swept under the ever-filling vortex that is the rug. Upon opening the album, I noticed the main photo was a simple picture of the band with one of the band members holding a cat; right there, I knew I’d like the band. It was very humble and humorous to me, and showed that they don’t care to look cool against a sunset with wind-swept hair. The Lonely Forest’s insert photo warmed my cockles so much, I swan dove into the record with no jadedness (a rare commodity these days among reviewers like myself). Upon delving into the abyss of the record without my jaded air mask on, I happened upon (lo and behold) good music.

The first track, “Two Pink Pills,” opens with a Bazan-esque feel, then within a minute, smashes right into a section of music that reminds me a bit of The Henry Clay People meets Annuals. From there, the record runs the gamut of different sounds, but never swaying too far from the sounds of Pedro the Lion, The Henry Clay People, and the occasional ebb and flow of The Velvet Teen. I never got the feeling that their influences were stitched on their sleeves though; Au contraire, I feel they are hardly influenced by those bands, if at all. They simply have created a variety of sounds that get categorized by people like me so relative ideas can be communicated.

I’m not going to get into much detail about the record, or break it apart song by song, but I will say that I think the band’s best attribute is the dynamics in their songs. I don’t hear much dymanics, I feel these days, with bands and records; most seem to be in a hurry to get their songs over with so they can get backstage and continue on the free beer. The Lonely Forest I feel really worked on their parts; production, and songs as a whole, and it comes through on the record. For example, the song “Sugarloaf” has three separate, non-repeating parts; with tempo changes, which leads right into the next minute and thirty second song, “Golden Apples of the Sun Pt I,” which just seems like an extended thought to “Sugarloaf.” All the songs tie in nicely with recurring themes and thoughts throughout the record. This is a band that cares about their music, and is just trying to make good songs, and doing a pretty damn good job of it. This doesn’t fall short though of the ever-classic saying, “Just give it a few listens,” but I suppose that goes for nearly every record out there.

Three parting thoughts: They have recorded with Jack Endino (Nirvana, Mudhoney, Hot Hot Heat). Next, their drummer, Braydn Krueger, came up with some fantastic, complicated parts for the songs on the record. Lastly (and semi-redundant), We Sing the Body Electric! as a whole hasn’t changed my life musically (yet), but I find myself thinking about the record when I’m away from it for a bit. So whether or not it’s your “thing,” originality and dynamics can be hard to come by these days, and it’s refreshing to hear a band like The Lonely Forest keeping the hope alive.

End Scene,
Dan Tana