A Best Sixth Release Honorable Mention in the 2009 Awards
As you may have heard, this particular RK release has a theme: It’s a breakup album. However, it’s actually not typical for the category— not all of the tracks are directed at her; there’s some sadness, certainly, but not a lot of bitterness or sarcasm; and the record overall isn’t really a downer (!).
As a perfect example, Forget And Not Slow Down opens with its title track, which is very accepting, upbeat, and hopeful.
“I Don’t Need A Soul” switches gears somewhat. It has fairly straightforward lyrics in the first verse and chorus, but the second verse is a bit puzzling.
“Candlelight” features bouncy drums and somewhat tongue-in-cheek lyrics in the chorus. This track, like several others on the album, flows without a pause into an untitled outro (hence the skips in the track numbering on the back of the CD 
).
“Part Of It” can really be summed up by its chorus statement of “If a nightmare ever does unfold, perspective is a lovely hand to hold.” This track also flows into an untitled outro.
Like the title track, “Therapy” (featuring Brian McSweeney) is also somewhat upbeat. It has a great piano/guitar combination in it, too.
“Over It” is somewhat jazzy (also utilizing a great piano/guitar combo), and despite some of the lyrical tones it’s actually quite enjoyable.
“Sahara” (featuring Arnold Thiessen, Matt MacDonald, Tim Skipper of House Of Heroes, and Aaron Gillespie of The Almost & Underoath) is excellent. Its music is different from anything they’ve done before, including intriguing, layered melodies that weave a backdrop of somewhat-suspenseful rock… and it lyrically mixes vivid metaphor with raw honesty. (We got goosebumps both in the chorus and at the end of the bridge.) “Sahara” is easily one of RK’s all-time best tracks.
“Savannah” (featuring Arnold & Jonathan Thiessen) is another track that has very different music, though this time in a completely opposite direction. It’s also very nostalgic— particularly because it describes both their previous relationship as well as Matt’s hope for a resolution that obviously didn’t happen— yet it’s still very good. This song has both a connected intro and outro.
“If You Believe Me” (featuring Matt MacDonald) has rhythmic verses and a rocking, somewhat-emotional chorus.
The final two tracks, “This Is The End” and “(If You Want It)”, are connected without a pause and are essentially one. Musically, the first half contains the appearance of the only real punk drumming of the record, and the second has some very good piano (in fact the second half is quite memorable). Lyrically, more pain is revealed on this double-track finale than on any other; but it is also evident where his healing and hope are coming from, closing both the album and that chapter of Matt’s life on an upward note.
Digital Amazon Edition:
The digital Amazon edition comes with an exclusive bonus track, “Terminals”, on which RK collaborated with Owl City. As such, the track’s music is mostly Owl City’s Electronic Folk Pop/Rock; and its lyrics emphasize Matt’s leaning on grace to get him through (though, as he points out, that doesn’t mean that you should use grace as an excuse).
In all, this is a surprisingly good breakup album , and will likely be a comfort to those who are going through the same thing.
Our rating for Forget And Not Slow Down: 5 Stars. 