Seattle psych band Forest Ray began as a recording project in 2015, combining guitar-driven psych rock with elements of brit-pop, folk rock, and organ-laden pop. Following in the footsteps of Pacific Northwest greats from The Sonics to The Kingsmen, the songs regularly explore diverse instrumentation, which have become staples of the group’s brand of rock n’ roll. Their first two full-length LPs, Musical Witchcraft and Laughing, were released to vinyl over 2016-18. In the fall of 2019, they released a new LP, Faded Reflection, along with a collection of basement recorded analog tracks titled, the “Wedgwood Tapes’: Before the COVID-19 pandemic struck the group had also recorded their fourth studio album, Black Pine, during the winter of 2019 to be released in the fall of 2020. The album, an homage to lost loved ones, includes an array of twangy psychedelia, Americana influences, and more of a diverse sound than previous records. Black Pine, borrows its name from the English translation of “Crnobor’: the autochthonous trees of the Croatian coastal region, Dalmatia, where songwriter Peter Sumic’s family immigrated from, which served as a source of nostalgia and inspiration in the album’s songwriting process.
In October 2022, they released their fifth full-length album, Always, diving further into folk-rock instrumentation and psychedelic folk-rock influences, and featuring slide guitar much more prominently. They played over 75 shows in 2022 across the United States and toured Canada in the spring of 2023. Their sixth studio album, Windfucker, was released in the fall of 2023 after they completed their first European tour through six countries (Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, Czech Republic, Germany and Switzerland) over five weeks.
Today Glide is excited to premiere Forest Ray’s new single “Nickels and Dimes,” a mesmerizing new spin on indie twang that leans itself on familiar psych grooves. With this tune, there is a bright and twangy guitar backed by a snappy drum beat and the kind of harmonies that feel rooted in 60s rock as well as power pop. Complementing it is the dreamy guitar that weaves in and out of the groove and the vocals and propels this infectious tune forward into new sonic territory. This path eventually culminates in a desert-surf-psych guitar solo that is positively mind-expanding and serves as the perfect bridge before the final shimmering chorus.
The band describes the inspiration behind the tune:
“Nickels and Dimes was inspired by the mundane realities of life, financial woes and the life of a musician. The song lyrics refer to wanting to turn nickels into dimes, and I was quite literally talking about the challenges of making something out of nothing. It’s a little bit upbeat, a little bit optimistic, but with very existential themes that most working-class folks can relate to. Sonically it’s kind of like an upbeat folk rock vibe meets the fuzzy tones of The Pretty Things and George Harrison”
LISTEN:
