The Lonely Forest

The Lonely Forest

The Lonely Forest is an Indie rock band from Anacortes, WA. The original name of the band was John Van Deusen and the Lonely Forest which was a middle step between the lead singer and keyboard player's solo act and the current formation. The Seattle newspaper The Stranger noted "in today's growing sea of predictability, it's refreshing to hear a band like the Lonely Forest, a group of young men from Anacortes who create dynamic piano-laden pop that sounds both genuine and badass."

In May of 2009, Chris Walla, guitarist for Death Cab for Cutie, commented that The Lonely Forest was "totally doing it for me right now." Since then, Walla has announced that he is starting his own production company (called Trans, an imprint of Atlantic Records) with The Lonely Forest as the first band to sign on.

History

Singer/songwriter John Van Deusen (who also plays guitar and keyboards/piano) released a solo EP titled Yossarian in 2005 (After the Catch 22 character of the same name) moved on to create the band "John Van Deusen and the Lonely Forest" (there was also an EP released that year with the same name). At the same time he was leading a band called Squarewave. There was a restructuring and two members of Squarewave, Eric Sturgeon (Bass) and Tony Ruland (electric guitar), replaced two existing members of The Lonely Forest joining Van Deusen and Braydn Krueger (percussion). Van Deusen's name was then dropped from the name of the band when their first EP with this arrangement of members was released in September of 2006. Regicide was released as a six track EP that was produced by Jack Endino of Seattle. For personal reasons (attending University), Tony Ruland left the band shortly after the release of the EP in late 2006. Instead of adding a new guitarist, the band decided to focus on the driving piano of Van Deusen. The band's first full length album, Nuclear Winter, was released in August, 2007 to great acclaim in the Pacific Northwest. Since guitarist Tony Ruland has rejoined and the band released "We Sing The Body Electric!" on April 21 2009.

After expressing interest in the band, Chris Walla of Death Cab for Cutie released in February of 2010 that The Lonely Forest was the first band to be signed to his new label, Trans.

Music

Regicide, their breakout EP as a full band, gained critical acclaim around Seattle and the Northwest. NorthwestBands.com had this to say: "This EP is hard to categorize, it's a mixture of what has been and what is to come in the rock world." Along those same lines, The Stranger said "Since taking the crown at Sound Off!, the band have recorded a six-song EP, Regicide, with Jack Endino, which flaunts maturity and confidence while still sounding fresh and youthful."

Nuclear Winter was recorded in Krueger's garage and was produced by Sam Winston and The Lonely Forest. It is a "a space rock odyssey into an alternate dimension, [which] showcases the raw sound of the piano, bass and drums layered with synthesizers and melodic vocals."

In 2010, the Lonely Forest signed with Trans, an imprint label of Atlantic Records. Of the signing, The Stranger's music editor, Eric Grandy, wrote, " The Lonely Forest are musically competent, painfully earnest, and utterly middling; they just signed a major-label deal shepherded by Death Cab for Cutie's Chris Walla—moderate success and Twilight soundtracks, here they come!"

Discography

Pre Lonely Forest recordings

The Robot Thinks... - EP (2004)
Yossarian - EP (2005)
John Van Deusen and the Lonely Forest - EP (2006)

Lonely Forest recordings

Regicide - EP (2006)
Nuclear Winter (2007)
We Sing The Body Electric! (2009)

Awards

• Winners of Experience Music Project's SoundOff! competition (2006)

External links

• LonelyForest.com - Official Band Page
• The Lonely Forest @ MySpace
• The Lonely Forest Lyrics
• The Lonely Forest Street Team
• The Lonely Forest @ Virb