The Seattle garage rock-pop band The Lonely Forest is set to release their third album, We Sing The Body Electric!, on April 21 via Burning Building Recordings. In the interest of full disclosure, I was unaware of the band until their latest album came in dee mail.

As I listened to We Sing The Body Electric!, it became apparent that I was hearing one of the best albums so far this year. Song after song reveals rich, raw, sophisticated, emotional, party-ready and wonderfully crafted music; there are no gimmicks or cookie cutter rock here. What worries me about bands that are this good is what can happen to them if they become too popular.

Music producer Jack Endino, who worked with Nirvana, Mudhoney and Soundgarden said of The Lonely Forest: "These guys came out of no where...and blew my mind!"

For reals. We Sing The Body Electric! may likely be on some best rock album lists for 2009 by year's end. Band members include Eric Sturgeon (bass and vocals), John Van Deusen (piano, lead vocals), Braydn Krueger (drums) and Tony Ruland (guitar).

Some of the bands The Lonely Forest have played with include The Velvet Teen, The Thermals, Appleseed Cast, Mates of State, Viva Voce, Saturday Looks Good To Me, Cloud Cult, YACHT, Maritime and many others.

MySpace has become one fairly reliable measure of a band's popularity. The Lonely Forest opened their page in July 2004 and have since racked up 265,824 profile views and amassed 5,958 friends in the extended (and sometimes over-extended) MySpace network.

"We Sing In Time" - The Lonely Forest from We Sing The Body Electric!
"Stars and Moons" - The Lonely Forest from Nuclear Winter (2007)
The Lonely Forest on MySpace

Both songs are currently available via Burning Buildings Recordings

The gorgeous Pacific Northwest has played a major role in popularizing alternative and indie rock music for nearly two decades now, and The Lonely Forest are clearly one of the big shots in modern Seattle rock.

Labels: Best Indie 2009, Garage Rock, New Releases, Seattle Bands, The Lonely Forest