Description
Bendik Hofseth Woodlands with Simon Darlow
Forest is the title of Bendik Hofseth's 4LP/4CD concept which consists of four albums; Trunks (the jazz album that came out in 2020), Branches (the "pop" album), Roots (the "classic" album) and Leaves which contains the loose threads and oddities that don't fit into the other three. Branches is the pop album, but pure pop is never going to be Bendik Hofseth. Pop with a twist is probably more correct, and the twists often come in the direction of art pop, jazz and artists like David Sylvian, Blue Nile, Peter Gabriel or Sting. Bendik has his regular band Woodlands here too (Eivind Aarset, Helge Iberg, Mats Eilertsen and Per Oddvar Johansen), but super percussionist Sidiki Carama from Mali also adds his color to the album. Bendik has sung on all of his previous pop albums, but this time he has shared the job with Brit Simon Darlow (played in Dollar, The Buggles and wrote Grace Jones' "Slave to the Rhythm", just to name a few). The record has become exotic and suggestive, and it pulls you in directions that make the concept of pop have to be expanded. There is a carpet of African rhythms at the bottom, and Bendik's hypnotic saxophone playing ties it all together.
The songs:
1 Sunshine 3:35
2 Show Me 6:04
3 Don't Be Afraid to Love 4:53
4 Slowdown 5:35
5 There's Always You 5:35
6 Rain 4:07
7 Believe in Dreams 5:53
8 Moonshine 4:48