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The
Lonely Forest : We sing the body electric!
I first heard the name John Van Deusen nearly five years
ago. He couldn't have been much older than sixteen, sharing
the stage with only an electric piano, an acoustic guitar,
and himself. The feeling of awe from the audience was visceral
as he performed a collection of songs so finely crafted,
and so marked by a sense of emotional maturity that you
would have never expected them from someone so young.
By the time I saw him again the following summer, he had
acquired a rhythm section and an electric guitarist, which
transitioned into a band proper the following year. Joined
by bandmates Eric Sturgeon, Braydn Krueger, and Tony Ruland,
they became The Lonely Forest early in 2006 and quickly
became an absolute powerhouse of the local indie community,
releasing an EP and a full-length rock opera (!) in just
under a year. "We Sing the Body Electric!" is
The Lonely Forest's first album for their new label Burning
Building Recordings (the label they share with fellow Anacortes
residents The Oregon Donor).
Drawing its title from a Walt Whitman poem, a Ray Bradbury
short story, an episode of The Twilight Zone, or all of
the above, "We Sing The Body Electric!" kicks
off with "Two Pink Pills", an ode to the sleep-inducing
powers of Benadryl. Interestingly, the use of sleeping pills
seems to be a recurring theme in the album. This song introduces
us to a technique used to great effect throughout the album:
the overdubbing of Van Deusen's voice into eerie two- or
three-part harmonies. A terrific example of this occurs
at the end of "Two Pink Pills", when at least
two layers of Van Deusen's voice harmonically arrange themselves
around the high pitched squeal of guitar feedback to form
a three-note chord, before taking a slow slide downward
in pitch.
This bizarre and beautiful experiment leads us straight
into "Blackheart vs. Captain America" and "We
Sing in Time", my two favorite tracks from the album.
They're followed by the raucous "On To Something",
a criticism of mass-production consumerism. This is the
track where Braydn Krueger really shines as a percussionist.
His talent lies in his ability to take what is otherwise
pretty sparse instrumentally, and turning it into something
that holds the attention.
The album hits a slow spot after this, which lasts for a
few songs. At its very lowest points, "We Sing the
Body Electric!" is just another solid Lonely Forest
album. But low points are brief, and the music is for the
most part top-notch. Quickly returning to form for its second
half, the album never quite recaptures the magic of the
first few songs, such as "We Sing in Time", but
manages to excel anyway.
"Stick Upon Stick" illustrates Van Deusen's penchant
for whimsy. "Life underwater is chilly and dim/ Behind
the dam wall snakes a river of sin/ It's fast and it's thick
but she'll never give in/ And down came her tail when the
boy learned to swim".
The album is concluded by "Mt. Constitution".
"Hope lies in the proles/ That's how they made you/
That's how they wanted you to be", a direct reference
to George Orwell's 1984.
This is the strength of John Van Deusen's songwriting ability.
He draws influence from the works of great literary minds
from Friedrich Nietzsche to Joseph Heller. He blends antiquated
science fiction imagery with philosophy, humor, and beauty
against a backdrop of punkish energy in a way that makes
him seem like just as much a Kurt Vonnegut as a David Bazan.
The result is an artful body of work that is sometimes profound,
often surprising, and always enjoyable. It's the work of
four young men are creating for themselves an unusually
solid foundation for all their future success.
Feature by: Brenton William Brookings
03.18.09
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