Kygo’s protégé Forester, an indie electronic band based in LA, has officially dropped their third studio album Watercolor. The Norwegian superstar has taken Forester under his wing over the last couple years, releasing their last album A Range of Light and taking them on tour (Red Rocks in Colorado, Palm Tree Music Festival in Hamptons + Cabo, and more).
Since the project’s inception, the duo has amassed over 50 million streams and beautifully showcased their skillset as a true triple threat – they write, produce and sing. Now, David Parris and Xander Carlson of Forester are traveling North America on their debut headline tour and gearing up for their biggest milestones yet!
What’s your story as an artist?
Xander and I grew up together in Los Angeles. We went to neighboring high schools and often ran into one another at parties and events where we’d always end up talking music. Our like-mindedness led to us hopping in the studio one day and starting a track together. We didn’t initially plan on being a duo, but the more we worked together, more opportunities seemed to come our way. This naturally led to developing a joint artist project that eventually became Forester.
What inspired this last release?
The ‘Watercolor’ album really started on a trip we took to Big Sur last March. We decided to get out of LA as we often do, so we packed some gear and boards and camped a few nights up there. The winter is pretty slow in Big Sur so we spent a number of days exploring what seemed like endless coastline and redwood forests practically alone. Some musical ideas came up while sitting around the fire one night and that’s what really set this album in motion. I think you can really hear the fresh, coastal feeling in the music.
Do you get inspired by other art forms?
Definitely. I’d say we look at nature as a form of visual art and that’s one of our biggest inspirations.
What’s your favorite place or environment to write?
There’s really nothing like writing in the mountains or by the ocean. We love listening to these songs because they bring us back to the beautiful places they were written in and about.
What’s a record that shaped your creativity?
We keep going back to Never Going Home by Hazel English.
Who is an artist or band you look up to today?
Bon Iver has always been a huge influence for us as he has been for many.
What excites you the most about what you do ?
The idea that every time we sit down to write music a product is made that is totally new and unique to us is amazing. There aren’t many other professions that allow for that kind of unbridled creation.
What is your view on genres and music styles since you mix a lot of them in your music?
We’ve always felt that it’s improtantant explore new genres and styles to keep things interesting. We love all kinds of music and the main priority is to make something that we feel conveys a compelling feeling and represents our individual tastes accurately. We always try to keep a common through line of lush sound and positive energy in our music, but I think we would get bored if we kept making the same song over and over again.
What does music and art mean to you?
To us, music and art are ways to convey emotion, ideas, and stories. What is beautiful is that these particular mediums can impact people in ways we’ve found most others can’t. There’s just deeper level of emotion that comes with them. Our main goal with music is to share our story with listeners and hopefully spur some kind of meaningful feelings in them whatever that may be.
How would you describe your act in one word?
Cathartic
