Track Listing

1. I Go Down
2. Sunday Lover
3. Catch
4. Breathe
5. Silence
6. Crazy
7. Alone in the Sun
8. Epitaph
9. Deep Blue
10. Suppose
11. Race
12. We
13. Favour

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #119156 in Music
• Released on: 2003-10-07
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

A great surprise!
Only last week, while poking around some CD stacks at the radio station I work at, did I find this debut from the Icelandic band "Leaves", with the little sticker on the front that mentioned the band Sigur Ros. Little did I know I'd end up with a band more in the realm of Coldplay than S.R., and one of the best albums I've heard in months! Sure, they sound a lot like Coldplay (and who doesn't sound like SOMEBODY these days?! - "Yellow" certainly owes a lot to Catherine Wheel, in my book!), but Leaves also reminds me of the band Mansun, whose "Attack of the Grey Lantern" is still a fave! Overall, I don't care WHO they remind me of as long as the songwriting is strong, and here, the band craft gorgeous melody after gorgeous melody, with intricate interplay between guitars and vocals, to create a perfectly dreamy summertime album (unfortunately, this album is probably "over" now as far as their record company is concerned, since it was actually released last September). But hey, whatever influences this band incorporated to make this excellent album, I have no qualms - I'll just enjoy it over and over again. (And let it make my wait for the new Cure album a little less painful!)

Mansun. Echo & The Bunnymen, Doves...
Aside from Sunday Lover which does have a Coldplay-like stylistic - this album shadows a lot of older school artists vocally; Paul Draper (Mansun.), Roland Orzabal (later Tears For Fears material), & Ian McCulloch (Echo). Music-wise Leaves resembles Doves and Echo & The Bunnymen's Evergreen. I don't want to use too many more comparisons, because Breathe shows original elements too - they just all sound familiar. Also, two of the best tracks of 2003 were "Crazy" and "Catch", hands down - that is worth the ticket alone.

What?
Lets start this off by saying, this is a good CD. I have not listened to it intensely yet, but it sounds good on my first listens.

Now, I've had enough of you idiots comparing bands. The Leaves are The Leaves, not Coldplay, not Radiohead, not Clay Aiken. The Leaves seem to have an ambiant sound with a slow beat, similar to that of Sigur Ros (I am not saying they ARE Sigur Ros, I am just using Sigur as a reference).

The reason I did not give it the full five stars is because of the falsetto; I'm not the biggest fan of it. Otherwise, the CD is good, not excellent- good.