Los Angeles based composer Fran Dominguez, and his project Forest Robots, has just released his third concept album, entitled “Times When I Know You’ll Watch The Sky”. The recording, which is Dominquez’s musical ode to autumn, follows the previously released celebration of spring “Supermoon Moonlight Part I”, and the observance of summer, “Timberline And Mountain Crest”. The new album is also supported by a short film – Fran Dominguez’s visual interpretation of nature and the transformative effect it has on all of us, called “All Things Grow Faint With Great Adorn In Autumn”.  Forest Robots’ creative output has been a steady exercise in refinement over the past couple of years. All coming to a head with a more nuanced balance between everything that has come to represent the signature Forest Robots soundscape in this latest release.

You often hear the same complaints levelled against contemporary electronic music. It’s too similar. It’s too mechanical. It doesn’t feel emotional enough. Well, for those who feel this way, please direct yourself to the new album, “Times When I Know You’ll Watch The Sky”.

This album definitely feels like the culmination of years of evolution and experimentation, capturing the spirit of autumn within its musical confines. The album immediately radiates warmth though the opening track “Just Before Nightfall In The Forest”. With its sharp bass lines, crisp break beats and airy synths, the song is such an intriguing and seductive way to start the record and one that draws you in, eager to hear more.

Throughout the albums eleven songs, signature Forest Robots creates these beautiful soundscapes that can at times make you want to ponder, trance into a dreamy haze, or actually make you want to shake some part of your body, often within the same song.

This happens on “Everything Under The Light Of The Full Moon”, “In The Late Autumn Afternoon Rainstorm”, “The Clouds That First Gather At The Mountain” and “Of Rivers And Rivers Of Light”.

However, more than anything else, this is an album that is perfect for headphones. It’s so lushly produced and mixed that you will float effortlessly across each track. This new album is a breath of fresh air to a specific electronic sound that could so easily have become stale and formulaic.

Forest Robots really bring things together, locking in the grooves and enhancing his wandering, easy going keyboard melodies. Prepared to be captivated by gorgeous tracks such as “It Lies Sunk Deep Beneath The Old Lake”, “In The Late Autumn Afternoon Rainstorm”, “The Last of The Melting Snow” and “Times When I Know You Watch The Sky II”.

This is a record that is so rewarding when listening all the way through instead of just to certain tracks. As a whole it creates such a lovely dynamic, more so then when listening to it in separate moments. By the time the album concludes, with gentle track “Follow The Fog and The Rain” slowly fading out, it feels as if you have gone on an enterprising journey with Fran Dominguez and Forest Robots.

Something, aside from any genre stigma, “Times When I Know You’ll Watch The Sky” feels dynamic, full of warmth and is a fascinating body of work that proves this producer’s esteemed tenure within a volatile music market.

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