Angel Forrest: Living A Beautiful Life
By Ken Wallis | The Sound Cafe Journal
From an interview with Ken Wallis on BluesSource Canada
Angel Forrest’s calling card is her unmistakeable voice. When she belts it out, you know you’re hearing something that approaches perfection.
With her newest release, A Beautiful Life, she puts it all on record (pun intended) with songs that resonate to the listener. This album highlights her desire to chronicle the ups and downs of life. That theme is front and centre throughout the album.
An Album Title That Says It All
The album’s name, A Beautiful Life, comes from contrasting feelings of despair and hope at the same time. Angel admits that the world’s chaos influenced her big time during the writing process.
Angel commented: “My God, the world is falling apart… you can build a beautiful life apart from everything that's going on.”
During the covid era, she spent hours doom‑scrolling, and the gloom and doom of the world’s calamities shaped her thinking as she began the process of documenting what is going on in the world. And despite the anguish that she saw, it led her to find some silver linings in her songwriting. Many of her songs on the album reflect a positive hope that it’s still possible to find a Beautiful Life.
Angel’s songwriting has always been personal and optimistic. This record captures those emptions perfectly.
A Song To Kick It All Off
As always, every new release has a song that opens it all up. Angel chose Beautiful Thing to kickoff A Beautiful Life. She chuckled when she described how difficult it was to choose a lead track: “There’s no sleeper on this for me… choosing was a nightmare.”
The lyrics capture the dark mood:
"I scrolled the news today, Truth and Lies all land the same.
And then I try to be strong, Can’t believe what’s going on
But then that despair turns into hope
I feel the invisible strength between you and me, Keeping me safe, Lighting my way
With the world on edge you remind me, You got to live in love"
Living The Dream On The West Coast
Angel and her husband Denis Coulombe have moved to Hornby Island, British Columbia.
The island boasts less than 1,000 residents, and only about 500 in the winter. The island is off the beaten track, but it’s famous for its blues music.
Every year Hornby Island features a well-known blues camp. Angel and Denis teach there often along with many blues icons attending to pay forward for the future of the music.
For the dynamic couple, music is not their only passion. Since moving to Hornby Island, Denis bought a boat and now runs fishing charters. Often, they take to the seas for musical cruises. They also run a salmon‑smoking business called Cake from the Ocean.
“If you live on this island, you need at least three or four jobs.” Angel states with a laugh.
'The free-wheeling lifestyle is laid-back and serene, and you can feel it in the roots of the album.'
Songwriting Sparked In An Unusual Way
Angel said that her songwriting came from an unusual source. She hadn’t written much in a while but a vacation changed all that. The vacation was with friends, and one of them was diagnosed with a terminal illness.
“It just unplugged something about how precious life is.”
She wrote Not Without a Plea, as a poem of angst for their friend,
Fate’s so foul, that she’ll need remind us that we only have today
And not waste it but embrace it.
Many of her songs came as she walked in the quietude of Helliwell Park during the pandemic. And once she had the lyrics, Denis pulled out the guitar and the songs just seemed to flow.
They decided to record a demo of three songs but when longtime collaborator Jean‑Sebastien Chouinard heard the material, he said this should be a full album and said simply: Let’s do it.
Get This Remarkable Album
Recording an album is an expensive process. Support Angel by getting a physical CD copy through her website www.angelforrest.ca and she will sign it as well. Digital downloads are available too, but Angel knows many listeners still love holding a real CD in their hands.
Her daughter Dylan designed the album’s booklet, demonstrating that talent runs in the family.
A Beautiful Life Being Lived
Angel Forrest’s new album is not just an album. It’s a virtual witness to the fact that everyone can survive tough times and find beauty even when the world and one’s personal life is in turmoil.
Angel is indeed living a beautiful life. Music, salmon fishing, a devoted husband, a tranquil lifestyle living on an island. What more could anyone ask for?
The Sound Cafe Journal
Where the story behind the music matters.
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