China Forbes: The Road
Wrasse Records
Vinyl | CD | DL available here
Available 17th May
The Road is the eagerly anticipated third solo album from China Forbes, the multilingual lead singer of Portland’s genre defying little orchestra Pink Martini.
Released 17 years after her last album 78, The Road is an accomplished collection of eleven mature and sophisticated songs all written, performed and produced by China herself and showcases her vocals and prowess as a performer whose solo identity differs from but also compliments the eclectic band she fronts.
Featuring the singles Full Circle and Rise this album is a collection of personal songs about life, about love and loss but ultimately about hope. The album opens with the piano led ballad The Road before the tempo ups slightly with Make a Difference and The Northern Line the latter being taken from the soundtrack of the film Infinitely Polar Bear which was written and directed by her sister Maya Forbes. Bring on the Rain is a song about unrequited love and Beautiful World is dedicated to her son.
Full Circle was a single that was released during the pandemic and this leads into
Aquarius Heart a quirky and up-tempo romp of a song about the traits of various zodiac signs before I Went To LA, another of the album’s songs that feels very personal and autobiographical. Twinkling Lights with it’s rousing chorus of “I’m alive” reiterates the albums central theme of hope and is followed by one of the standout moments on the album is Rise, the second single from the album that was written and dedicated to her friend and band mate Derek Rieth who sadly took his own life in 2014 containing the lyric “I cant believe I’ll never meet your son or your daughter” which emphasises the tragedy of an unnecessary loss of a life.
My personal favourite song on the album has to be the album’s closer the beautiful I Don’t Know ending the album as it began with just her stunning vocals and a piano. The Road is a delight to listen to from start to finish and I just hope that we don’t have to wait another 17 years for her next album.
China Forbes is playing a handful of album launch shows in her native America this coming weekend and hopefully will come and play some solo shows in the UK in the future, in the meantime buy, listen to and enjoy The Road.
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