popwreckoning

There are a few bands that I take an unnatural pride in, and being a big advocate for local music, I hold the Lonely Forest near and dear to my heart. A band hailing from the Puget Sound town of Anacortes, Wa., The Lonely Forest has come quite a long way since winning the EMP Sound Off! Competition back in 2006. They’ve released two full-length albums with Burning Building Recordings, played countless shows all around the country and around Puget Sound, and gained a huge local following of young indie rock fans.

With their new release Arrows, The Lonely Forest worked with fellow Washingtonian Chris Walla as the first band signed to his Trans Records, and they put together a fantastic album full of hometown love, epic melodies and passionate performances.

Arrows begins softly with “Be Everything,” a lovely ballad that showcases frontman John Van Deusen’s tender vocals more than any other track on the record, and then it jumps right into the catchy and triumphant “Turn Off This Song And Go Outside.” The catchiness of the song is only matched by its irony, seeing that there’s no possible way that I’d want to turn off the song.

The divergent melodies and messages of “(I Am) The Love Skeptic” and “(I Am) The Love Addict)” are a nice addition to Arrows, but in the scheme of the whole thing, they’re nothing special. I prefer the “Love Skeptic” to the “Love Addict,” for the feisty hook and simple message, “We became too good of friends, and the bullshit, it never ends.” I mean, haven’t we all had one of those?

I feel that the strongest points of Arrows lay in the middle, with “Coyote” and “Tunnels.” The former is a dark and moving track with a killer bass line, and again a seemingly simple chorus line, “I wish you’d come back home, I want to hold your hand.” That’s one of the things I really love about the Lonely Forest – their songs are extraordinarily relatable. The lyrics aren’t overwrought, because the emotion behind them comes from the performance, not the pretentious prose that some bands can fall victim to.

Before I delve into the beauty that is “Tunnels,” let’s talk about “I Don’t Want To Live There.” It’s a song I’ve heard before on the EP that the Lonely Forest released earlier this year, but I have to reiterate how nice it is to have a song that’s so obviously rooted in the Pacific Northwest. It makes me feel proud to be a Washingtonian.

I’ve waited until now to talk about “Tunnels,” because I needed to build up to it, just like the song does so well.

Seriously, this song makes me so excited every time I hear it.  The fact that I get to sing along to the lyric, “obvious contradictions, childish self-afflictions,” is already good enough for me, but the every-growing energy of the song and wall of sound – especially the percussion – exemplifies how good each member of the band is at their craft. But the best part of the song comes in the last minute and a half, where it moves smoothly into the outro of “Ramshackle House,” which isn’t a track on its own on Arrows, but it was on the EP. Honestly, hearing the transition from “Tunnels” to “Ramshackle House” for the first time gave me goosebumps. It’s so perfectly done, and it makes so much sense. That was one concern I had when the EP released, “Where is this song going to go?” That concern flew out the window when I heard the entirety of “Tunnels.”

Arrows closes out just as strongly as it opens, with “Woe Is Me…I Am Ruined,” old hit “We Sing In Time” and the title track. “Woe Is Me” is far different than previous live versions, which were more acoustic, but it’s a perfect example of how good a producer Chris Walla is. He is another reason why I’m proud to be a Washingtonian.

Even though some people might find it weird that the Lonely Forest would put “We Sing In Time” on this album seeing that it was on their last release We Sing the Body Electric, I find it refreshing. The Lonely Forest doesn’t need to follow all the rules. The fans love the song. . And it was a completely different version, with deeper, richer recording and mixing.

The closing track, “Arrows” brings the album to a complete circle, with a softer song showcasing Van Deusen’s vocals and piano. It makes for a quiet close, rather than going out with a bang.

But really, Arrows reads more like a book, with the gradual rising action, the epic climax (“Tunnels,” duh), the much quicker falling action, and then finally the resolution.

And this is definitely one I’ll want to read over and over again.

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For more information on the Lonely Forest, go to http://www.thelonelyforest.com/

“Turn off, turn off this song. You can listen to it later, and go outside.” That’s what the Lonely Forest begs of us listeners on the first track on their new EP. You see, I would – but the thing is, it’s so good that I can’t possibly follow their instructions. Being the inaugural band to be signed to Chris Walla’s new Trans Records, The Lonely Forest will release the first round of new songs this month with a 5-song EP, out September 14^th. In keeping with their passionate pop rock, the Lonely Forest didn’t stray at all from their debut LP We Sing The Body Electric with this new effort. But I wouldn’t have expected anything less with fellow Washingtonian Walla nurturing this budding band.

The one glaring change on this EP is how personal it is. After listening through it several times now, I’ve connected with it on so many levels that it’s kind of crazy. The whole EP reads like a love letter to the Pacific Northwest, or more specifically, Anacortes, WA – where the band is from. “Turn Off This Song” begins the EP in a hook and harmony-driven self-deprecating plea for people to stop sitting around and to get out and do something. It takes all the cliché out of “live your life to the fullest,” and still resonates with anyone – teenagers to 30-somethings.

The next song, “Ramshackle House” almost seems like a 58-second lead-in to the song following it, but I wonder if it’s more of a preview for what’s to come on the full-length album in early 2011. Even so, it’s a short, intriguing track with a incessant humming in the background complimented by lead singer John Van Deusen’s powerful vocals. The most personal song on the EP, and one that hit me so deep that it’s almost brought me to tears several times, “Live There” is a lovely piano-laden ballad proclaiming the band’s fondness of where they live – Western Washington. In the song, we’re told that since LA is too obsessed with money and Nashville is “much too safe,” they always come back to the northwest. “Give to me miles of tall Evergreens, the smell of the ocean and cool mountain breeze, won’t you please?” Having grown up in Puget Sound myself, I can say that the Lonely Forest expressed the beauty of this region with a song equally as beautiful.

The penultimate song on the EP is the heavy “Let It Go.” And I say heavy because no aspect of the band takes a backseat on this song. Employing a much fuller sound, and most likely higher-quality recording equipment, the drums, bass, guitars, and vocals are all strong without competing for your ears’ attention. I also say heavy because “Let It Go” tells the story of a girl “pierced in the heart by a sinister dart thrown by an insecure tongue,” and it’s left to rot for years, pushing the girl further within herself until nothing’s left of her. It’s a familiar story, one that The Lonely Forest’s young fans can definitely relate to, but again – without the cliché. From here, we’re given the acoustic version of “Turn Off This Song,” which some people might find redundant, but considering the song’s message, I think it fits perfectly. We’re kicked at the beginning with Van Deusen telling us to turn off the song and go live our lives, and again as a reminder at the end. But it still doesn’t make the song any less good. We’re still going to listen to it.

Track Listing

1. Turn Off This Song
2. Ramshackle House
3. Live There
4. Let It Go
5. Turn Off This Song (Acoustic)

The Lonely Forest on MySpace