Most recent single ‘Can’t Sleep’ suggests one such course. With a certain alt-country twang and renewed narrative focus, the track sits somewhere between contemporaries like MJ Lenderman and the likes of Tom Petty, and supporting vocals from Kira Cuthbertson of fellow Vancouver outfit runner only add to the bittersweet tone of the track. Because, as with Buddie before it, D.L. Forrest possesses an admirable ability to meld searching emotion with a fresh, cathartic energy, able to occupy more than one mood within the same three minutes.

The style is fitting for a song as open and unguarded as ‘Can’t Sleep’. Because despite the apparent brightness of the track’s sound and rhythm, the ideas it explores are in fact far more conflicted, detailing people so caught up in their own trials and tribulations that they are unable to be there for others. “I wrote this song on April 30, 2024, while taking a break from a sleepless night, writing comprehensive exams for grad school,” Forrest explains. “I was doing too much but somehow feeling like I wasn’t ever doing enough. That anxiety started spilling over into the rest of my life. I wasn’t present with the people I cared about most. And all of that made me feel like a failure. This song isn’t exactly about that, but about realizing what that headspace felt like, where it came from, and how it affected everyone around me.”

Watch the video filmed by Kyle Huck, Ian Webster and Forrest himself below:

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