I want to let you know about this album
I've been enjoying recently but first, an apology. There's been a
fewer posts on the blog recently for a number of reasons – a
combination of fatigue due to the shorter days, increased workload at
the day job, family illnesses (thankfully nothing serious) and a
preoccupation with our woeful political climate have all contributed
to me not finding as much time to write as I would like. That, and
the fact that I'm a lazy git at heart!
Anyhow it's helped me decide on a
renewed commitment to writing as my New Year's Resolution (again).
I'm not expecting to be nominated for the Booker prize or anything
like that but hopefully there will be some music I can help shine a
light on. The last couple of years have been wonderful for
left-of-centre music, and I expect 2020 will not disappoint either.
One of this year's recent releases is The World Is A Bell, the
second full-length album by North London band, The Leaf Library. Led
by main songwriter and lyricist Matt Ashton, with musical
contributions not only from the band's own line-up but also from
their extended circle of collaborators, they have connections to
other HD favourite acts such as Alison Cotton, The Left Outsides and
The Cold Spells which boded well before I even got round to
listening.
Maybe it's a reflection of the
complicated world we live in but for whatever reason independent
music has shifted away from big choruses and singalongs that were
prevalent through '90s Britpop and into the era when The Libertines
and their imitators ruled the roost. The units may not be shifting so
much now but musically things are much more nuanced, more unique,
subtle and ultimately more satisfying. The music released by The Leaf
Library being a good example. It centres on ambiance, features
drones, unexpected instrumental combinations and layered vocal
harmonies. Don't expect ear-worms but do expect a listening
experience that will shape or enhance moods. It's a record of slowly
permeating subtle charm.
Listening to album opener 'In Doors And
Out Through Windows' instills in me that beautifully detached feeling
I get when visiting an unfamiliar city and wandering through its centre while
shops and markets are getting themselves ready for the working day.
With a meditative instrumental bed of piano, hand-held percussion,
brass and xylophone it sets the tone for what is to follow. Lyrical
references to August moons and white chalk tie the track to seasons
and landscape and are ambiguous enough for the listener to find in
them a meaning for themselves.
'Hissing Waves' further propels you
into this head-space, and once you settle in and are willing to be
taken further on the journey that the band have created you'll find
gentle electronic pulses, found sounds, beautiful string
arrangements, synth drones and a shared musical mindset that centres
on mood and texture. It's tempting to link The Leaf Library in with
the kind of Hauntological records released by labels such as Clay
Pipe and Ghost Box. The band name fits right in with that after all.
But there's something more contemporary and forward looking going on
here. It's not the past that being ruminated on, more so the eternal,
and the open-ended possibilities of what could be. In a sense they've
created the musical equivalent of early morning half-light.
The band cite the likes of Stereolab,
Low, Bark Psychosis, Yo La Tengo, Seefeel, Julia Holter and Robert
Kirby on their press release. Fans of those acts will find much to
like here, as will those of Jane Weaver, Modern Nature, and anyone
with a belief in Englishness as something intangible but deeper and
kinder than its current small-minded nationalist form. Sorry to end
this on a little bit of politics, just sometimes you need to get
stuff off your chest. Suffice to say that this record is one of many
this year that has helped maintain my faith in what our tiny island
has to offer. Do yourself a favour - turn the telly and the phone
off, put your headphones on and lose yourself in this album's calming
melancholy.
Click here for The Leaf Library's website.
Click here for The Leaf Library on Facebook.
Click here for WIAIWYA Records.
