For those unfamiliar with the Sean Penn film
Into The Wild, the plot goes something like this: a rich kid graduates college and decides to abandon his present existence and give away all his money to charity in favor of a life in the Alaskan wilderness. The scenery from the film is gorgeous, with the vast spans of Mother Earth providing the backdrop to a film gobbled up by critics and Academy members alike. While the task of scoring the film was given to
Eddie Vedder,
In the Forests of the United States from Jonivan Jones under the alias Animalsounds sounds like it would make a damn fine score to such gorgeous, breathtaking scenery. With production heavy on reverb and a passionate howl that echoes earnestly at every chorus, Jones creates an atmosphere perfectly in tune with his record's title. Nothing but guitar and tambourine accompany Jones, and he places himself utterly alone, singing his soul for only the surrounding wildlife to hear. Not to say he sounds particularly happy about this; on the contrary, the setting of
In the Forests of the United States suggests complete and total isolation. From this context, Jones delivers an album of songs directly from his comfort zone, and though Jones never deviates from his beaten path musically, his
In the Forests of the United States is a pretty darn good record.
From start to finish,
In The Forests of United States caters to the lonely, as Jones’ tuneful voice, consistently forlorn and abandoned, provides an immediately identifiable emotional appeal, despite his jumbled words. Jones stays consistently introspective, remaining in the first person, forcing one into his situation. While his lyrics aren’t always discernible, the emotion behind them is clear enough. When coupled with some at times enthralling guitar arrangements, Jones’ voice proves itself indubitably worthy to carry an entire album, his sigh never once growing irritating. Though this is most likely due to the fact that
Forests runs at a brief 25-30 minutes, it’s a testament to Jones’ songwriting. “The Colors There”, for example, stands as the album’s most obvious highlight, thanks to mournful guitar/vocal verse that grows increasingly mesmerizing with each repeat, Jones crowing
”I saw the colors there at night/ I swear” with a mournful exhale. The layers Jones adds with each refrain make the song hauntingly low, the echoing production swelling with increased urgency. The finale proves a mildly chaotic moment on an otherwise relaxed album, but throughout the madness, Jones remains the focal point, very much the calm center.
While tracks like “The Colors There” assert Jones’ immense vocal ability,
In the Forests owes as much as it does to the hypnotic production as it does to Jones’ voice. The droning, nearly Velvet Underground-like effect on his guitar on tracks like “In the Woods” and “New Territory” make the tracks immediate standouts, the former of the two running with a sinister sliding strut reminiscent of Nirvana’s performance of “Oh, Me”, with equally eerie results. “New Territory”, on the other hand, closes the record with a wistful tone, fittingly concluding a record whose howls and sighs up to this point had been lonesome and pained. Jones cries with a nervous waiver
“I could see us here until the end/ Sometimes it rattles me up and shakes my nerves, but I could see us here right to the end”, before dejectedly bowing to a chorus that just sighs
“Oh, no”, the fitting end to such a melancholy record.
In the Forests of the United States isn’t a perfect album (each song stays stubbornly in minor and maintains a very similar feel that makes tracks like “The View” and “A Revival” indiscernible from the records stronger songs) but it doesn’t have to be. There’s enough quality on here to warrant repeated listens, even if just to bum out to once in a while.
(
Note: This record is for fans of the key of F# Minor- nearly the entire album is in this key)
