Full Review: The Album Leaf -A Chorus Of Storytellers

“Perro” opens the record in the same way a slowly opening door would. On one side, you have your thoughts and feelings, but as the door swings open you become exposed to another reality, another world of sounds that speak just as vibrantly as words do. “Blank Pages” is the result of the door being opened and the first real glimpse of what this new world looks like. The song creates a foundation of airy piano backed by soft electronic rhythm that, on its own, isn’t anything special, but combined with the rest of the tracks is fantastic.

“Falling From The Sun” could be a radio single, and though that may not sound strange, The Album Leaf hasn’t really had any songs, in my mind, which could be radio singles. Rocking back and forth on the chorus line “Find a way to fall…” the song aggressively holds back, dripping with anticipation as the perfectly matched music pushes the track onward.

Usually instrumental tracks, which, by the way, most of the songs are, are looked at in a different light than songs with lyrics, because frankly, that’s just how people see songs typically. “Until The Last” is different though, in that when it plays, it comes alive bringing with it an unspoken story that’s able to be unique to each listener.

Each time through this album, “We Are” stands out as being just a bit out of place. At first I thought it was the full drum kit washed out in the mixing process that was strange, then I thought it might be the vocals which stand just above the music, but after a few times, it seems to be all of it and none of it. For whatever reason, this song which I would consider the record’s sore thumb always finds favor somewhere in the middle though nothing has really changed since the beginning.

If “Perro” was the door opening, then “Tied Knots” is the listener laying under a tree in an open field after the long journey drifting off to sleep. The ambiance of the song is absolutely hypnotic, almost too much to bare even for the strongest eyelids. “A Chorus Of Storytellers” is exactly what I was hoping for from this band.

Release Date: 2/2/2010
Label: Subpop
Buy: Amazon Mp3

Tags: a chorus of storytellers, the album leaf

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 6th, 2010 at 2:19 pm and is filed under Full Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.