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Paul Forrest is one of those people who become more fascinating the more you learn about him. For many years I knew him only as the man that fronts a band called The Dayglo' Pirates, "Britain's premier (and I suspect only) Jethro Tull tribute act." Donning a wig and resplendent in troubadour outfit, including codpiece and tights, would be excitement enough for most people, but with my attention drawn to his solo release "Music of the Trees" I realised that there is much more to the aptly named Mr Forrest than that. Having been in a range of bands that musically embraced folk, rock and even classical genres and playing a range of instruments, there is obviously a large creative streak in his make up. What this CD does however is mixes that musically creative ability with Paul's other love, Trees. As he is at pains to point out, he is not a tree hugging, eco warrior, hippie and having briefly met the man, I can vouch for that. His arboreal interests first came to light when studying for a Psychology degree at the University of Sussex, where he was lucky enough to find himself under the tutorage of Dr Brian Bates, author of The Way of Wyrd and The Real Middle Earth. Courses in humanistic psychology, shamanistic consciousness and the like helped sparked an interest in indigenous religious practices, leading to a final dissertation on the affects of shamanic drumming, an honours degree and no doubt a heightened appreciation of the natural world.

Many reviewers at this point would be content to pick up on the obvious connection between the artists surname and the subject matter at hand and run out a string of, so say, humorous takes on the irony of the situation. All I will say on the matter is that someone with such a prestigious name, educational background and musical heritage was almost destined to make an album such as this. So what is this album all about, you may have guessed by now that it's not going to be as straight forward as most things in your collection. The brief is quite simple, having discussed with friends the concept of the natural world and specifically trees giving off energy and sound to those with the patience and ability to be sensitive to it, Paul set about trying to write in musical form what various trees "suggested" to him when in their presence. Whether you take this as being merely inspiration or something more cerebral or even spiritual is down to the individual, but what he has ended up with here is a collection of musical pieces inspired

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