Forester has released his new album titled ‘Honey I’m Home’. An album that has that feeling of being artistically full and blossoming as the playlist progresses, ‘Honey I’m Home’ is a series of testaments and soliloquies from the heart and soul of a musician expressing as such yet still in the learning process himself because, all creative people will tell you learning is a constant process.
Musically styled as a varied set of original sounding tracks, the album is not afraid to reach outside of the box and collide with different genres and go beyond those recognized chord progressions to make an album that can enrich your soul as much as it entices your ears.
“Honey I’m Home” is probably the most fully realized Forester record I’ve made to date—I wanted to focus on my songwriting and the small details of the largely improvised instrumental compositions. I wrote this record in part for my partner, as a declaration of the deep love we share and of the honest anxieties and feelings that are inherent in it. I really hope it resonates with people because the feelings I’m trying to convey are intense, and I hope I was able to capture their beauty appropriately.
The chorus line in the opener “Your Company” is a good summation of the mood, “All the wreckage of everything I’ve been through in the past few years / is being sculpted into something true / by the wind that carries me to you.” These songs mean more to me than most others I’ve written, particularly the ones focusing on the little and big moments and experiences that strengthen bonds between people, like “The Future” and “Cloud Cover”. The one I’m most proud of though, is “Honey”, on the simple but beautiful feeling of coming home after a day of work to your partner and soulmate, and the relief it brings at the end of every day.
Forester
About Forester
Forester, the indie/electronic solo project of El Paso, TX native Austin North, isn’t easy to describe—his music is at times influenced by acts like Boards of Canada, Radiohead, James Blake and Frank Ocean in its emotional palette, and continues to evolve and develop with each subsequent release. North, with his background in jazz guitar and affinity for effect pedals, uses almost entirely analog gear and keeps song structures more loose and linear than one might expect, making for a direct and unique listening experience.
His upcoming record, “Honey I’m Home”, is primarily composed of elements of indie rock, ambient music, singer-songwriter, and jazz, and his careful use of vocoder effects, a pedalboard that weighs more than him and vintage gear are all part of what keeps people on their toes when listening. The record, inspired by North’s partner, is full of deep and intense feelings, both of love and of the anxieties that are inherent in it. Recorded primarily on a Yamaha CP20 keyboard, North composed guitar accompaniments where needed and took risks laying his songwriting out so bare and focused
Forester’s solo live show goes either one of two ways, and it’s no simple act—it either features heavy bass and drum machines, along with soaring vocals, guitar and analog synthesizers, or features North balladeering on his electric keys alone. He has released five records as Forester in 2021, after putting out his debut in March of 2020. He embarked on four solo tours in the West Coast, Northwest and Southwest US from December 2019 to March 2020 to promote the release of the record, before the pandemic. North’s full band, Sleepspent, released multiple singles in Summer 2021, have opened up for artists such as Cold War Kids, Blue October, and Jim Ward, having developed a strong fanbase throughout the western half of the US through their 3+ years of consistent on-and-off touring before COVID.
Featured image by Nicole Ochoa.
LINKS:
https://forestersounds.bandcamp.com
https://instagram.com/forestersounds
https://facebook.com/forestersounds
https://open.spotify.com/artist/2T7xJxr02WWPIRf4uTF8pY?si=e-EpwmBKRG-2ldJ9Z8GgHA
https://music.apple.com/gb/artist/forester/1499812080
https://soundcloud.com/forestersounds
