Comments & Discussion About This Session

Recorded in San Francisco, CA. on October 25, 2009.

Forest Sun performed for One Night Music with his lovely wife Ingrid Serban on a beautiful fall afternoon in the Castro District of San Francisco. The vibe of the session was simple and easy going, a feeling carried throughout Forests Sun's music and personality and reinforced by the lazy Sunday afternoon setting. As he smiled and laughed with Ingrid, Forest Sun jumped right into the first song of the session called “Loveseat,” a tune packed with promiscuous innuendos about furniture. “Loveseat” was recorded with the Animal Liberation Orchestra (ALO) as the opener to his most recent album So Nice.

Forest Sun's music ranges from breezy, upbeat songs about his travels, to spiritual tunes that give personal and deep insight into his life, to jazzy tunes that tackle topics of love and relationships. After starting the session humorously with “Loveseat,” Forest quickly hit us with the deeper side of his music in a song called “Be Kind to You,” during which he invites the listener to come along on an adventure through a lonely country. This song demonstrates why Forest is an accomplished musician, displaying his ability to combine intelligent, thoughtful lyrics, with simple, comforting folk music through a depth of songwriting that becomes increasingly fruitful with each listen.

Forest Sun rounded off the session with Harlequin Goodnight, a gorgeous song that he wrote for his mom and dedicated to her before he began. Then the One Night Music crew wrapped up and headed out for slices of pizza with Forest and Ingrid. We got a chance to learn more about the duo behind the music and found that when Forest isn’t busy writing and performing music he’s running his “The Good Life Adventures” company which takes small groups of participants around the world on awesome outdoor adventures. It’s a fitting business for Forest to run and one that will certainly inspire more great songs for his already-extensive collection.

Forest Sun has been part of the San Francisco independent music scene for the last 10 years, performing at local spots like the Independent and the Great American Music Hall. He’s released seven solo records on his own label called Painted Sun Records, as well as two benefit compilation albums called Songs for Laura (Vol. 1 & 2), inspired by his mother’s personal struggle with cancer in 2006, with proceeds going to benefit people living with cancer. The Songs for Laura CDs are both fantastic collections featuring Sean Hayes, Brett Dennen, Anais Mitchell, and other contributors from the San Francisco independent music scene.

Editor's note: The eighth video "Twenty Toes In The Sand" was added after this session was launched. "Harlequin Goodnight" is the correct closing song as mentioned above in the set description.