Nostalgia strikes for good

Review by Leilana

The Album Leaf's fifth studio album, A Chorus of Storytellers, will be released tomorrow (that means on February 2) and yours truly has the honour of telling you a few things about it. I'll start by saying that the main difference between this album and the previous ones is the fact that this time the band recorded as a whole. Yeah, that means no more Mister Superman-Super-Instrumentalist-and-Vocal Jimmy LaValle, and also a more diversified approach towards the sound. It's what I'd like to call the wonderful marriage between folk and electronic music, resulting in a sound that cannot be described with a single word.

The first song, Perro, is creepy in the best sense possible, with a very simple melodic line and voices fading away in the background – the kind of song I like to listen in the dark at night. Its melodic line is also kept on the following song, Blank Pages, but here the band comes with additional elements as synth and violin, creating a serene and, at the same time, nostalgic atmosphere.

Most of the tunes are instrumentals. LaValle's voice appears just once in a while, like the flashbacks you have when you're dreaming that manage to deepen the impression that what you dream is actually the reality. In a similar manner, his voice deepens the nostalgia: "I wish I could have stayed, but this wind takes me away…" (There Is a Wind) – words that seem to re-emerge (even if unspoken) at various moments on the album, especially on the final song, Tied Knots.

"It's warm, it's cold, it's sad, it's hopeful, it brings tears to your eyes and peace to your soul." – I could say that. But I'll just keep it simple and say that you're dealing with the best album this band has released and probably one of the best albums on this year