Sometimes, the digital era poisons the soul, leaving it decrepit and non-communicative, stalemated in a lifeless purgatory. Other times, it enhances what has already been made beautiful by the acoustic bends of earthy connections. To understand the technological landscape and weave it through webs of humanistic yearning is the gift of a formidable and grounded spirit.
Boom Forest (the debut project of John Paul Roney) composes this balance in the track “While You Sleep,” a techno-spiritual lullaby, waxed by a crooning nostalgia. The track opens with thirteen seconds of textural synthesis, laying down the fringe of dusky woods, out of which rises the ghostly melody of a lovelorn reverie. Between a circular guitar line and refreshingly earnest lyrics, the track conjures easy images of love softly sunken; it exists as a spellbound sublimation toward futile resurrection.
Roney’s tenor stands tall and animate in its clarity; a lack of frills underscore the song’s tenderness, recalling what it means to have a true aptitude as a vocalist. “While You Sleep” unravels in five minutes of wrenching vulnerability, masterfully balancing a foggy, lo-fi wash with a classical exactitude. Roney allows the shadow of a falsetto to fall, softly and subtly, into the desperation of a quiet surrender; with this, the song carves its starry space in a sphere of raw and honest production.
Listen to our exclusive track, “While You Sleep” here, and check back with us for more Boom Forest updates – their self-titled LP is coming out next week.
Lockeland Springsteen 