Yes, you’ve guessed it The Forest and The Seais a concept album.
John Burton, AKA Leafcutter John brings us his first album after leaving Planet-Mu records and while the folk based album, coupled with the high concept is a somewhat old school approach to music making, the contents of Leafcutter John’s latest is far more 21st Century then you’d first consider.
Uniqueness is key to grasping people’s attention and Leafcutter John’s The Forest and The Seais brimming with its own personal inimitability.
“Let It Begin” would have you believe that The Forest and The Seawas simply a sombre folk recording, with minimalist guitar work and mournful vocals. However, creeping its way into the mix, a glitchy electronica ambiance becomes ever more present within the track and moulds perfectly with the rest of the sounds creating a skilfully low key prelude for the rest of the album.
“Maria in the Forest”, with its field recording style, has a wonderfully skulking sound of horses hooves mixed with harpsichord and a low bass line that, when combined together, creates the just the right atmosphere for the track’s title.
“Dream I” and “Dream II” provides a great opportunity for Burton to show off his vocal talents. The method and mood of the piece helps to emphasise a Tom Yorke like talent within Burton’s vocal style. “Dream II” meanwhile provides all the surrealist sounds needed for a true dream sequence.
“Seba” is, after some quite gloomy moments, a sincere break from the routine and manages to produce quite a mythical sound via melancholy vocals and blithe guitar plucking. “Seba” is followed finally by “Now”, an abstract improvised mix of bass, synth and violin that softly transcends into a solemn folk track conducted, as it were, by more of Burton’s grave vocals as well as the overpowering sound of waves crashing against one another.
While concept albums always run a risk of becoming too self infatuated, Leafcutter John’s The Forest and The Seaactually improves with the narrative strand provided by its conceptual nature which turns the album into an abstract folktronica version of a Grimm’s fairy tale.
Fans of glitch, improvisation and folk as well as anyone just looking for something different should definitely check out this release.
