California Cowboy

Forrest Frank is nothing if not prolific. Even while his duo project Surfaces was taking off in the late 2010s, he continued putting out music under the moniker Forrest. (mind the period), and, under his full name, he released three albums in 2023 alone. California Cowboy, the first of that trifecta, is a set of sunbaked reflections on love and spirituality. Sonically, it takes a similar form to Surfaces’ work—breezy, easygoing pop that’s underpinned by shimmering guitar, the occasional hip-hop-adjacent beat and Frank’s own soul-indebted vocals. Split up with a series of spoken-word interludes, the album charts the course of a relationship, from its budding beginnings (“Diggin U”, “Summer Love”) to its challenges (“Long Distance”), its doubts (“Is It Really Over?”) and, ultimately, its resolution (“Change of Plans”, “Just Friends”). But it’s in Frank’s internal dialogue with his faith that the album finds its real thrust. “Even in the valley of the shadow of death,” he sings on closer “No Longer Bound”, “I can take rest, ’cause the living God is living in my chest.”