Albums

Album Review: The Forest

[Album: Alone In Music]
[Label: We Hate You Records]

Jonah Stevenson, a.k.a. The Forest, is a man who has never found band-mates to supplement his raw-edged anti-folk music so he’s struck out on his tod. ‘Alone In Music’ is his latest opus and represents another unhealthy dose of his “here’s one I made earlier” tactic of throwing uncomplicated guitar riffs and shitty drum machine at a vocal that collapses into a maddening tunelessness.

This is the sound of a solitary soul stuck in a shed in Aberystwyth with a 20-year old tape deck. However, if you dig into the lyrics you’ll find a genuine passion for getting across whatever message he feels must be heard. Digging straight in we get the stripped-down jangling guitar and vocal combo of ‘Uncredited Serial Killer Blues’ followed by the yawning title-track, replete with swandiving chorus. Here, Stevenson asks of his efforts - “If a tree falls in a forest / does it still make a sound / if no-one’s listening / when you put an album out?” You almost feel like sending him a cuddle in the post but I’m sure he would balk and have something to say about the concept - he may even return to sender with a disparaging song attached.

Finding a lumpy bass and minimalist beat on ’Rock And Roll Canal Boat’ is something of a delight by comparison. Stevenson parodies the current trends in rap by sneering the track-title followed by “2008… cast me off”. His scathing lyrics conjure up the glorious line “We could live in a cave / and raise a family of incestuous cannibals / who kill tourists on their way to Disneyland / but not if you’re a fascist” leads me to fall in love with ‘You’re A Fascist’, but only after I’ve lived through the ugly repetitious lyrics combined with the frog/cicada effect on ‘Breaking Satan’s Back’ which makes me want to smash my own sound-system with a hammer.

Yet, Stevenson doesn’t deserve to be alone in music anymore. Combine all these clever ideas with some equally clever musicianship and the result should be magnificent. Right now, this just sounds like an inidentifiable howl in the dark - someone needs to help this lonely tree, er… branch out.

For fans of: Brer Brian, The Fall, The Moldy Peaches
Band link = The Forest

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John’s review also appears on TLOBF.

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