Quick Before it Melts

Tuesday 13 July 2010

QBiM SPiNS: Forest City Lovers Carriage

Toronto’s Forest City Lovers have returned with their new LP, Carriage to woo and serenade us with their sweet indie folk sensibilities.  It wasn’t too long ago that I first fell under their spell, and in the short time I’ve been spending listening to Carriage I’d go so far as to say they’ve seduced me fully.

After the initial offering of “Phodilus & Tyto” as a 7″ single with “If I Were a tree” on the flip side (Carriage’s opening and closing songs, respectively, both new recordings), Forest City Lovers have made good on the promise their earlier work hinted at.  Originally the solo vehicle for singer-songwriter Kat Burns, Forest City Lovers have evolved into a full band of players who have mastered the art of making expansive, intricate music that never fails to surprise.  “Keep The Kids Inside” has an unexpected military marching band beat underneath vocals that sound like they’ve been recorded over a telephone and is isn’t at all the kind of song you’d have expected at the start of the disc.  But that’s the charm of Carriage: it goes against expectations right from the very beginning.  Everything you think this kind of indie folk, orchestral music should be (from bands like Camera Obscura and fellow Torontonians Ohbijou) is thrown out the window.  Quietly, subtly, and without fanfare, forest City Lovers have changed the way we’ll look at this sub-genre from here on in.  “Pocket Full of Rocks” is a lost doo-wop classic done over with cheesy electric organ; “Minneapolis” will have you bopping up and down to one of the year’s most gorgeous choruses on record.

Carriage came at me from left-field, mostly because I’ve not been a big follower of the band, but for those who’ve been fans for awhile now, I get the sense that it’s the album they’ve always felt the band had in them.  No matter from which direction you’re coming from, you’re gonna fall in love with Carriage, too.  It’s an unexpected treat.

Carriage is available now from Out Of This Spark records.

MP3: Forest City Lovers “Light You Up”
Video: Forest City Lovers “If I Were A Tree”
Myspace: Forest City Lovers
Twitter: Forest City Lovers

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by J. Di Gioia | 1 Comment »

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 13th, 2010 at 9:00 am and is filed under MP3, QBiM SPiNS, ViDEO. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.