Sam Forrest - Down The Hillside

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4...according to our Phil on Wed 08 Oct, 2008.

Sam Forrest is the singer from Nirvana a-like rock band Nine Black Alps. Here he shows his more sensitive side with his debut CD called 'Down The Hillside' which comes in a numbered digipack of 1000 copies. Singer songwriter gear on offer here (ie very difficult to the rock of Nine Black Alps). I found this album quite patchy myself. There's a handful of tracks on it I thought were pretty good (the stripped back man and guitar with some Tunng lite stylings about 'em). The more upbeat ones drums didn't do it for me but the simpler ones made more sense. That's what I think anyway.

Sam Forrest’s debut solo album, 'Down The Hillside', is due for release on September 29th 2008 through Desert Mine Music. 'Down The Hillside' is the debut solo album by Sam Forrest. Although he is more known for his work fronting the rock band Nine Black Alps, in the spring of 2008 Sam took time off to write and record a semi-acoustic album in his house in York, England.

With the exception of backing vocals courtesy of singer-songwriter Hayley Hutchinson and drums by Alan Leach, all of the instruments were played and recorded by Sam which lend the album a stripped-back lo-fi atmosphere a world away from the hard rock sounds of Nine Black Alps.

Instead, the album delves more into the realm of singer-songwriters from the late sixties and early seventies, with tracks such as 'River Bed' featuring the pastoral lyrical imagery resonant of Laurel Canyon era Neil Young whereas songs like 'In My Picture' feature complex fingerpicking that echoes the work of the wayward blues maverick John Fahey.

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