East Forest

East Forest is the project of composer and producer Krishna-Trevor Oswalt. Since 2008 his "lush" (Rolling Stone) and "blissful" (NPR) music has moved between ambient, neoclassical, electronic, and experimental sound, heard everywhere from concert halls to active research studies at UCSF. He has released over 30 albums on labels including Domino, Ghostly, and Mercury KX, with collaborators from Ram Dass and Jon Hopkins to Kishi Bashi and Max Cooper. His feature documentary Music for Mushrooms (2024) played theatrically across 100+ markets. He is a faculty member at the Esalen Institute and hosts the podcast Ten Laws w/East Forest.

Whether via his Music For Mushrooms: A Soundtrack For The Psychedelic Practitioner album series, his collaborative spoken word album with Ram Dass, or one of his communal “Ceremony Concerts,” East Forest’s goal has always been “building bridges and creating an approach that’s grounded, embodied, unarguable and for everybody.”

His new album Music For The Deck of The Titanic is an homage to the infamous ship’s musicians who spent their last hours playing songs for passengers. Beautiful, poignant and extremely human, it’s a reprieve in a fast-moving world, built around an acoustic backbone of live drums, stand-up bass, earnest vocals and intimate piano. The most collaborative effort from East Forest so far, the LP features Senegalese singer Marieme, drummer Jens Kuross (RY X, The Acid) and cellist/bassist Owen Hofmann-Smith. From the thoughtful and rhythmic repose of “Clay Steps” to the emotional atmospheres of “Tangled," the house-driven “Currents” with Brazilian techno producer ANNA, the contemplative ballad "Birds Eye" and the raunchy-wisdom of single "So What?" with comedian Duncan Trussell, Music For The Deck of The Titanic crafts a true journey of mood. Its 11 tracks are a culmination of a life spent exploring and meditating on music as a connective narrative, and a contemporary musical reminder that we can at any moment return to our humanity without falling behind.