The Album Leaf - One Day I'll Be On Time
(Tiger Style)
The charm, for me, of the Album Leaf's first album An
Orchestrated Rise To Fall was in its looseness and
simplicity. The album seems to have a sort of fuzzy,
distant quality that I find inviting. The lack of
this sort of looseness and simplicity is what has
always kept me from getting too involved in Tristeza's
records, which have always seemed a little bit too
slick and focused on virtuosity. On my first listen,
One Day I'll Be On Time struck me as being quite a bit
more on the "slick" Tristeza side of things, and while
this impression wasn't totally false, the album has
its share of the simpler, looser Album Leaf side, as well
as some decidedly more up-front polished songs.
The opening song on the album "Gust of..." is
particularly striking and easily my favorite. It
simply weaves multiple guitar lines over the top of
(what sounds like) a keyboard drone. It is perfect in
its simplicity. "Wet The Day" and "Hangover" (as well
as 1 or 2 others) are very much along the lines of An
Orchestrated Rise to Fall and feature simple
compositions amongst ambient noise, tape hiss, and
conversations. "In Between Lines" stands out as the
most up-beat and straightforward track, and sounds
like it would be at home on a Pinback album with its
strong tempo.
Overall the album is very good and the strength of
the songs mostly makes up for its somewhat less
consistent tone. In spite of its strength, however,
I find myself preferring the songs that are the most
sparsely composed. The more complex arrangements
featuring multiple instruments and beats tend to
distract from the pleasant tone of the album and,
although still very good, ultimately weaken it.
|
