This Silent Forest - 30-day song challenge

Starting on 12th August Scottish independent band This Silent Forest set themselves the challenge of writing, filming and broadcasting a song a day for 30-days.

I like to see a band test themselves in terms of their creativity and work ethic. I've been meaning to check them out but alas time has not been on my side lately for various reasons.

However, tonight I thought I'd pick 3 of their songs based on titles alone and check them out.

As someone who likes rough demo versions, I was intrugued to see what kind of quality the songs had in terms of the writing and the recording.

The first song I chose is called 'Lovers Come Home' (day 18). It is rather gorgeous, the lyrics, harmonies and the sparse picking of the acoustic guitar combine effortlessly.

I love the line 'I will wait in the rain for you'. I'm a sucker for a love song and this is a line that many  young Scottish romantics will have felt at some point in their lives. Check it out below.

Next up I chose 'Last Orders' (day 6) thinking it might be a good drinking song. This time it is just 'Squirrel' alone in what looks like a particularly nice and clean bathroom.

I'm not particularly familiar with This Silent Forest as a band, this has been an introduction; so in that sense their 30-day song stunt has worked, with over 700 views of this song, the gimmick/artisic challenge would seem to have gathered interest from plenty of new fans.

This is another love song, 'for you I'd lay my head on a block'.....'when the flames of the wreck consume my heart, only then there is an excuse to why we're apart.' It doesn't capture my attention like my first choice, but it's not bad, especially if it was written that day.

Next up I went for 'Give Me An Answer' (day 10). A good song title in my humble opinion. The duo venture out of the confines of their flat to the riverfront of Glasgow. Not quite as clean as the bathroom ;-)

This may be the weakest of the 3-songs that I've chosen. It's still not bad though and improves as it goes on. 

I don't know if all the songs were written on the day or not, or if some of them or parts of them have been hanging around for a while. As the song develops the duo's harmonies kick in, this is a strength of theirs.

'Lovers Come Home' was my first choice and my favourite out of the 3, the gentle nature of the playing, the harmonies and the lyrics, even the way they have filmed it...it works.

Out of 30 songs there is no way I was going to like them all. You're going to get a mixed bag out of that volume of songs. 

I'll certainly delve in again at some point, they are clearly a creative and talented band and top marks to them for challenging themselves. For now though I am off to watch Treme....