REFORESTER | “PERPETUITY” EP | S/R | AUG. 14TH, 2020

Bio:

Steven Hefter’s 2011 album, released under the clever moniker of St. Even, was called a masterpiece twice, once by the Baltimore City Paper (“a masterpiece of dark pop songwriting”) and again by Portland, Oregon’s Willamette Week (“Spirit Animal is a masterpiece.”)

So, that’s it. That’s the bio. You should listen to Hefter’s latest songs with his latest band Reforester because he’s that good.

Need more convincing? Okay, let’s get into that.

Hefter left Portland in 2017 and returned to Baltimore and his good friend and collaborator, Austin Stahl, who he has previously played with as the rhythm section of long-running Baltimore-based band Small Sur – a band that has released three albums to date and shared stages with Angel Olsen, Damien Jurado, Vetiver, Strand of Oaks, Phosphorescent, and others.

With Reforester, Hefter and Stahl (who is also the recipient of some not-faint praise, being named “Baltimore’s Best Singer-Songwriter” by the Baltimore City Paper) have rounded out the trio with Hefter’s former Challenge Club bandmate Chris Laun, who may have been mistakenly overlooked by the local press, but did have his tribute song to the Baltimore Orioles played at Camden Yards on opening day, which frankly, may be the win out of these three.

In summation, Reforester is a whole-is-greater-than-the-sum-of-its-parts scenario, because masterful songwriters flock together.

Three writers, three singers, three-part harmonies. That’s what you’ll hear on “Perpetuity,” the debut EP from Reforester, out Aug. 14th, preceded by the singles “Drive By Feel” on July 24th and “Deaf Stethoscope” on Aug. 7th.

“I love sharing the responsibility for decision-making,” Hefter exclaims about this return to collaborative creation. “It’s tiresome to make decisions alone, particularly at the point in the process where anything resembling objectivity has long vanished. Sharing that with two other songwriters is relieving and empowering.”

Thumbs up to the decisions that make “Perpetuity” such an engaging, satisfying, and beautiful experience.

Think Bob Dylan’s The Basement Tapes if Jerry Garcia had dropped by, and when you’re done thinking about how fantastic that would’ve been, you’ll be warmed up for multiple listens to the sound that Stahl goes on to describe as “The Band, Harry Nilsson, and Neil Young filtered through my indie-rock favorites, Yo La Tengo, Pavement, and Teenage Fanclub.”

Hefter concurs re: Tapes, saying, “I had been listening to it a lot and I’ve always loved the juxtaposition of their supreme musicianship and incomparable songcraft mixed with a little bit of rowdiness and looseness.”

Hefter goes on to cite “a little Flaming Lips-y noisiness bleeding over from what I’d been experimenting with in Portland,” notably on opener “Deaf Stethoscope.” Another track of note, the gorgeous “Break With The Day,” reminds of one of Beck’s career highlights, “Guess I’m Doing Fine.”

Okay, that’s really it for this bio. Anyone should know by now that the songs on “Perpetuity” are for everybody.

Stahl continues, “The Band and Teenage Fanclub are great examples of multi-singer bands where everybody’s vocal presence is on all the songs, regardless of who is singing lead. It was important to us to do the same. This is something we thought about from the beginning.”

It’s good that Stahl mentions this, because this confluence of vocals is an essential mission accomplished. There’s a warm, enveloping haze to the songs on “Perpetuity” that is so inviting and familiar, you’ll feel like you’ve been here before and are already looking forward to coming back.

Hefter echoes that idea of returning, saying, “I’d like to think these songs reflect the bittersweet transition back home after eight up and down years on the west coast.”

For Laun, home is where the heart is. His song “End Of The Day” is inspired by being a father to two daughters and contains some of the most uplifting harmonies on “Perpetuity.”

“I wanted to write something happy because I usually don’t, but I ended up failing miserably,” he explains with a caveat that may be hard to discern through the overt brightness of the tune. “What I had envisioned as a song about the day-to-day joys of being a Dad and raising a family turned into a song about not being able to avoid my own mortality and the march of time.”

Fair enough, but the joy sure does shine through. Perhaps those conflicting layers of sound and meaning are what truly hits the tune out of the park for this baseball-loving songwriter? Can we ask the third-base umpire?

Okay, that’s it. Game over.

“Perpetuity,” the debut EP by Baltimore-based trio Reforester is out on Aug. 14th preceded by the singles “Drive By Feel” on July 24th and “Deaf Stethoscope” on Aug. 7th.