Spotlight: Forest City Lovers

I've been looking forward to this album for a long, long time and now that it's here I've had a hard time deciding what I want to say about it. Forest City Lovers (forestcitylovers.com) have been one of my favorite local (Toronto) acts for long time but they never seem to have gotten the attention they deserve. Hopefully Carriage will be the album, combined with a new distribution deal with Arts & Crafts, that changes all of that and brings them the national and international attention they should have received with previous albums.

For those of you who do not know Forest City Lovers is Kat Burns, one of Toronto's strongest vocalists and songwriters with a solid troup of musicians (Mika Posen, Kyle Donnelly, Christian Ingelevics and Tim Bruton) backing her up and bringing the diversity, and full rich sound the Forest City Lovers are known and loved for in this city.

I'm not big on reviewing things. I know that everyone has their own taste and 1,000 words on an albums brilliance aren't going to sway anyone any more than a couple of songs will - if you are into reviews though you can check out all the positive hype on Chartattack, Torontoist, Exclaim, Chromewaves, Limewire and Now. Which should give you more than enough words. None of it is going to convince you as much as hearing them so we'll get to that, right after I give you their upcoming tour dates:

July 5 Chicago, IL @ Box Social
July 6 Chicago, IL @ House show
July 7 Minneapolis, MN @ Sound Gallery Studios
July 8 Bruno, SK @ All Citizens
July 9 Regina SK @ The Exchange
July 11 Edmonton, AB @ Sounds Of Strathcona Festival
July 12 Nelson, BC @ Royal On Baker
July 17 Canmore, AB @ Communitea Cafe
July 18 Swift Current, SK @ Lyric Theatre
July 19 Saskatoon, SK @ Amigos Cantina
July 20 Winnipeg, MB @ Lo Pub & Gallery
July 21 Brandon, MB @ Parthenon Pizza
July 22 Thunder Bay, ON @ The Apollo
July 24 Sault Ste. Marie, ON @ Lop Lops
Aug. 10 Toronto, ON @ Soundscapes (in-store)
Aug. 12 Toronto, ON @ The Great Hall
Aug. 13 Hamilton, ON @ The Workers Arts and Heritage Centre
Sept. 16 Peterborough, ON @ The Historic Red Dog
Sept. 17 Ottawa, ON @ Raw Sugar Cafe
Sept. 18 Kingston, ON @ Grad Club
Sept. 22 Guelph, ON @ Ebar
Sept. 23 St. Catharines, ON @ Mansion House
Sept. 25 Waterloo, ON @ The Grist Mill

Now, get out and but Carriage (and grab Haunting Moon Sinking and The Sun and the Wind) while you're at it (you won't be sorry.)

If I Were a Tree (from Carriage)



Pirates (from Haunting Moon Sinking)



Song for Morrie (from the Sun and the Moon)



Kat Burns on the Ampersand