{"id":786,"date":"2010-04-07T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-04-07T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stylusmagazine.ca\/?p=786"},"modified":"2010-04-07T11:00:00","modified_gmt":"2010-04-07T17:00:00","slug":"review-the-album-leaf-a-chorus-of-storytellers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/2010\/04\/07\/review-the-album-leaf-a-chorus-of-storytellers\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: The Album Leaf &#8211; A Chorus of Storytellers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-787\" title=\"thealbumleaf\" src=\"http:\/\/stylusmagazine.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/thealbumleaf.jpg\" alt=\"thealbumleaf\" width=\"250\" height=\"250\" \/>Melodic post-rock, heavy on the keys, with a strong bassline. If you\u2019ve heard the Album Leaf before, you have in many ways heard this album already, too. That sounds like a complaint, but it\u2019s not. This music is mellow and beautiful\u2014an acquiescent listen if ever there were one. That also sounds like a diss, but I swear, it isn\u2019t! Jimmy LaValle\u2019s voice is plain, and backing vocals added don\u2019t particularly embellish it one way or another, but it doesn\u2019t matter. In the end, voice is just one shade on LaValle\u2019s palette, along with guitars, horns, strings, and electronics. It\u2019s rich, steady, confident\u2014and there are some exquisite moments on this record. The ghostly slide guitar on album-closer \u201cTied Knots\u201d; the warm percussion, strings and whistling on \u201cWithin Dreams.\u201d Recommended for those who like their post-rock gentle, subtle and cozy\u2014like a soft, threadbare-in-places but still-functional quilt. A note for Icelandophiles: LaValle has toured with Sigur R\u00f3s and he recorded this album at their studio, Sundlaugin (\u201cThe Swimming Pool\u201d). (Sub Pop, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.subpop.com\">www.subpop.com<\/a>) <strong>Jenny Henkelman<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Melodic post-rock, heavy on the keys, with a strong bassline. If you\u2019ve heard the Album Leaf before, you have in many ways heard this album already, too. That sounds like a complaint, but it\u2019s not. This music is mellow and beautiful\u2014an acquiescent listen if ever there were one. That also sounds like a diss, but [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}