On Love and Other Acts of Subversion, Forest Mountain Lion swings for the heartstrings and lands every time. This indie-folk-rock gem, dropping July 25, is a sweeping, emotionally-charged journey through love, loss, ecological grief, and spiritual longing, all stitched together with bare-bones honesty and earthy sonic texture. Over three years of writing and six months in the studio have distilled into anย intimate and anthemic album that speaks to the personal and the planetary.
Take the opener, โAlchemyโ. It creeps in gently, all breathy vocals, aching violins, and rippling acoustic guitar, like the careful lover awaiting the consent of the other. He delicately sings, โWhen do I get to kiss you?โ highlighting that tender, tentative distance he stands before being accepted. The crescendo mirrors that emotional escalation perfectly, rising like a tide thatโs finally given in.
By โSonglines,โ Forest flips the switch with pulsing drums and vibrant guitar fuzz, paired with impassioned vocals that channel eco-activism straight from the soil. Itโs a protest song disguised as poetry, full of striking imagery. He sings these intriguing sharp lines, โSeeds under the asphaltโ and โman brings love to the land, the land brings love to man,โ poking images full of symbolism into our minds with so much nuance and beauty.
Then thereโs โWhen the Hair Hides Your Faceโ, a heartbroken soliloquy layered over melancholy piano and softly bustling drums. The lyrics are devastating in their specificity, as they address a lonely broom, a friendโs well-meaning question, a phantom lover woven into memory, all leading to thought-provoking resignation amidst confusion.
โWolves,โ on the other hand, gets beyond love to get to healing the part of you thatโs been howling in silence for too long. He sings yearningly over glistening strums while strings writhe in the back. The drums come bustling, and his voice soars with need and passion in the bridge. Towards the end, the strings come swelling full of emotion.
All in all, Love and Other Acts of Subversion is a rare beast โ tender and tough, beautiful and bruised. Stay tuned to Forest Mountain Lion for more such sensitive music.
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Review by: Naomi Joan