Evocative as is Forest Sun's name, that moniker mirrors the vivid music on Stubborn Breathing Heart. At this point, after ten plus albums in his discography, the Cali native has not wholly evolved into a original thinker, but his deeply earnest sense of purpose renders his work here inordinately charming. As does his penchant for the subtle topicality at which the album title hints: his forthright attitude transforms an otherwise somewhat transparently eclectic style into a credible semblance of modern folk music.

The very first cut, "Keep On Rollin,'" initiates a theme of resolute positivism that permeates the LP for the whole of its roughly thirty-eight minute duration. The reggae rhythm almost camouflages the gospel influences at the core of the tune as well as a humility that becomes prominent when the author, accompanied by Ingrid Serban, sings "Where Is My Home:" Forest Sun's voice itself carries a stalwart air in and of itself, but it is his delivery, along with that of his co-vocalist, that turns the song into an expression of optimism rather than despair.

Such wizened realism, along with the easy going gait of drummer