Forester

Thesystems of nature are at once deeply complex and gracefully simple. Given thatForester’s music functions similarly, it makes sense that they named themselvesafter the woods.

TheLos Angeles-based indie electronic duo, David Parris and Xander Carlson, makelush soundscapes both inspired by and evocative of views from a mountain, deeppink sunsets, wind through the trees and the stars on a clear night. Thenourishing effect these things have on a human soul? That’s how they want theirmusic to make you feel. The cool thing is that it does.

“There’sa section along the trail from Yosemite to Mount Whitney called Forester Pass,”Carlson says. “Hiking it was one of the most impactful experiences of my life.The freedom I felt up there, we're trying to put that energy in the music.”

Basedin Los Angeles, the longtime friends launched the Forester project in 2019,working nine-to-five gigs and making music together at night. They experiencedimmediate success with their debut single “Spark” – a deep exhale of a trackthat was picked up by YouTube tastemaker Trap Nation, signed to its label LowlyPalace and has since collected more than 5.7 million streams on Spotify. Trueto its name, the song was an auspicious beginning that caught the ear of anA&R at Kygo’s Palm Tree Records, where Forester signed in 2020.

Thiswas all of course happening in the dark heart of the pandemic, a moment thatoffered Parris and Carlson, both then recent college grads, time to just makemusic. They got in the car and drove north to Carlson’s family cabin in MammothLakes, California, on the eastern slope of the vast Sierra Nevada mountainrange.

“Nobodywas around, stores were closed,” Carlson recalls. “We spent months therecreating music. It was a prolific time for us.”

Here,at 8,000 feet, the guys further developed the Forester sound, which falls intoa dreamy, achingly emotional and thoroughly sophisticated, middle groundbetween the indie folk of Bon Iver – a hero to both Parris and Carlson – andmelody-focused electronic giants like Avicii. The music made in the mountainsbecame their 2020 sophomore LP, A RangeOf Light. The album’s theme is healing through nature – a phenomenon theyexperienced while making it, with time off spent swimming, hiking, off-roadingin the back country and taking in the night sky.

“Ihad been chronically sick for a while and was finally figuring out why,”recalls Carlson, “and that trip to Mammoth was the turning point for me interms of healing.”

“Itwas a weird time getting out of college and experiencing the isolation of thepandemic. You feel the weight of the world,” says Parris.

“Withthe music we were making in Mammoth,” adds Carlson, “we were trying toencapsulate the beautiful moments, so people can consume them wherever they areand hopefully have a moment of escape too.”

TheForester catalog now encompasses three albums: A Range Of Light, 2019’s Keroseneand 2022’s Watercolor. Together,these LPs have collected an incredible 72.7 million global streams, in addition to agrowing fanbase made up of both longstanding dance fans and scene newcomers.

“They're coming to our shows for anemotional release,” says Carlson.

Forester has been meeting these fans outon the road, playing their first live show in June of 2021 at Colorado’s epicRed Rocks Amphitheatre when they opened for Kygo. The Norwegian powerhouse alsoinvited them to open for him at his massive summer 2022 stadium shows in Osloand Mexico City, gigs that put the duo in front of tens of thousands of fans.Outsidelands 2022 in San Francisco found Forester not only doing their hypnoticlive set – for which Carlson sings and plays synths while Parris handles guitar-- but playing a DJ gig later that night.

In fact they started playing out togethermore than a decade ago, becoming the resident DJs for school dances, birthdayparties and other teenage festivities on the westside of L.A. during their highschool years. They threw their own warehouse parties that, as Parris recalls“were definitely illegal.” The afterparty for their prom drew 1,000 kids informalwear to a remote spot in L.A.’s Topanga Canyon and ended with the arrivalof the LAPD. “It was incredible while it lasted, though,” says Carlson.

Ten years later, the vision for Foresterhas expanded well beyond ragers. A pillar of the project is the preservation ofthe nature that’s inspired them, with the guys donating a portion of therevenue from their first album to The Nature Conservancy, who used it to plantroughly 1,000 trees. Their ultimate goal is for their streaming to be at netzero carbon emissions.

“The Forester project is ultimately aconservation project,” Carlson says. “We want to spread the word that ourplanet is both beautiful and irreplaceable.”

The trick is that through the depth andpower of their music, they’re able to express this message without having tosay anything at all.