Know What You're Doing: A Brief Review Of The New Album From Kyle Forester (Woods, Ladybug Transistor, Purple Mountains)

The new Kyle Forester album,Hearts in Gardens, is the sort of release that deserves your attention. The member of Woods, Crystal Stilts, and The Ladybug Transistor, has here offered up a set of easygoing indie-pop missives. The tunes on this album are accessible and catchy, and carefully-composed, sunny alternatives to what was on that superb Purple Mountains album from the late David Berman. Forester's world-view isn't as bitterly funny as acerbic as Berman's, but he played on that album and the music here faintly echoes the music of that release in some small ways.

"Know What You're Doing" is simple and affecting, recalling both Seventies-era songwriters and even stuff like Travis, while "Strange Vision" is a bit more interesting, mixing in faint hints of early rock-and-roll and Ricky Nelson with the music here. Elsewhere, the title cut is hooky and bright, while "Another Day" is pure power-pop. Forester favors down-tempo material here, and he at least imbues this with enough creative quirks that "Up Your Sleeve" is, for instance, a good deal distinct from "On The Way Down", the eerie closer that features Mary Lattimore on harp. Personally, I'd prefer more music from Forester like this one as his brand of chamber pop is compelling.

Hearts in Gardens is out now via the link below.

More details on Kyle Forester via his official Facebook page.

[Photo: Belle Savransky]