FOREST PARK

24 Jan

http://portland.thedelimagazine.com/snacks

Forest Park is in a “favorite emerging portland artists” poll on the deli! You can vote here!

21 Jan

eatsleepshredgeet:

weird idea i had for FP.

19 Jan

hairybelli:

Forest Park

19 Jan

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

plays: 90

Kind words about The Sun! <3

halflightlife:

Forest Park - “The Sun”

Can I just say, finally.

It’s been a full two years since Forest Park’s initial demo and a lot has changed since then. They’ve made a name for themselves playing shows in and around Portland. Where the rough recordings of weaving guitars and vocal harmonies implied orchestral arrangements, there are now actual orchestral arrangements thanks to the help of a few guest musicians lending violin, trumpet, and clarinet. And finally, not long after that initial demo, bassist Michael Campbell joined and has since cemented himself as a key part of the band’s sound.

I realize two years is an expected gap between releases, but—chalk it up to constant presence and thrilling growth—the anticipation has warped and stretched those two years the way Forest Park’s songs have stretched in time and shape. (This is the only song I could fit into Tumblr’s 10 MB limit.) But it makes sense that the songs would gather time and swell after how well their previous four songs blended into each other. The length now allows them the space to include the atmosphere they’re so deft at creating, while finding several directions to push and pull it in instead of just one or two.

This EP was recorded in late Portland Autumn where the sun has very little to do with warmth, let alone summer, and there’s not much on this song to keep you warm either. The mini-choir of “Oh, oh, oh“‘s is sugary but icy, and a repeated “I cannot feel anything anymore” would only be mistaken with summer if it was clumsily slurred and alcohol-induced. No, “The Sun” is quite the opposite. It’s cold awakenings. Shiver winds. Changes realized late. It has to do with sting-bright awareness. It might be uncomfortably chilly with personal truths, but there’s a reinvigoration in the epiphany. That the production shines just as clearly (headphones please) only magnifies the gravity and the immediacy of each direction the song is pulled in.

Forest Park EP is now available for download at whatever price you’d like to pay.