Though not new, the re-release of K. Forest’s Forest Fire – the follow-up to the Canadian crooner’s breakout debut, Eyes of Taiga and the project that obviously predated 2018’s Forest Fire ll – is an interestingly backlogged inclusion to his streaming canon. If anything has defined the mysterious K. Forest’s career, it’s a lack of specificity and expectancy towards what’s to come. As a rapper, a singer, a producer, and a fan of the experimental, his range is obscene and each and every release feels like a new lane altogether. So, to be granted the missing link between Eyes of Taiga – a much more hip-hop adjacent collection that at times is an obvious nod in the direction of Toronto’s Caribbean influence – and Forest Fire ll – a melodically-driven LP focused on experimenting with what the future of R&B may come to define – provides an interesting perspective to his growth and fluidity.

 

Like all his work, Forest Fire is a thesis on K. Forest’s affinity for the raw and imperfect sector of R&B, as grimy musically as it is thematically. And a melodically driven display of his vocal intensity, and the emotionality and sexuality that come with it, Forest Fire is a comforting bridge over the gap between his first and third full-length releases. Like an edition of PARTYNEXTDOOR that exists in a universe with more vocal range and less studio perfectionism, K. Forest – with the re-release of Forest Fire – continues to be a necessary, prolific force on the state of Canadian-centric electro-R&B.