{Photo by Peter Ellenby}

We love the expansive, inclusive pop sound of Anacortes-based The Lonely Forest so much we imagined listening to their previous release was akin to infusing your body with light drawn directly from the heart of the sun. The 2006 Sound Off! winners have only grown since then, signing with Chris Walla’s Trans Records, and releasing Arrows last March. In a combination as brilliant as chocolate and peanut butter, they’ll be playing a special show with the Seattle Rock Orchestra at the Neptune on Saturday.

If all that wasn’t enough to earn them Recommended Show status, Black Whales will be opening. If you haven’t heard this mid-fi, 60s-tinged, Richard Ashcroft-gone-country band yet, don’t wait until Sasquatch. Black Whales’ album Shangri La Indeed! was released last June, a fact that will be quite familiar to regular readers, because we just can’t stop talking about, and watching, this great local band.

While you’re waiting for Saturday night, take a listen to a few tracks: