Customer Reviews

Breathe

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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!)

Leaves have all the ingredients to make them a sensation. They come from Reykjavík, Iceland, in a time when it is well understood that all good rock is coming from the northern lands (Sigur Rós, also from Iceland; Sahara Hotnights, (International) Noise Conspiracy/Refused, The Hives, Kent, The Soundtrack Of Our Lives, all from Sweden). And they have a great one-word name.

I was very excited to get their debut, Breathe. I ordered it from overseas in order to be one of the first Americans in-the-know. I must say, I am a little disappointed. Just a little. Still, I recommend this album, and I will try to tell you why.

Their opening track is I Go Down. A sonic wonder instantly conjuring memories of Thom Yorke's falsettos (before they became legendary). The song builds beautifully, the electric-guitar work and strings weave the way we all liked Sigur Ros' meanderings, yet the acoustic expands out like so many Coldplay songs. If the whole album were like this my star rating would be noticeably higher.

But, unfortunately, it seems Leaves leaves short where they imply to be taking us. Overall, it is a very listenable album, but all the while one cannot ignore almost obvious tributes to The Verve (without the life-changing lyrics) and Radiohead (without actually blowing our minds away) and furthermore, British contemporaries can be cited: Lorien, British Sea Power, and Doves... to name a few.

Still, these Leaves influences, while perhaps deliberate, certainly overdone by a legion of other bands, with these guys it feels almost right. It's as if these Thom Yorke and Richard Ashcroft echoes emerge layer by layer by a sort of alchemic hocus-pocus.

There is a bonus track that evokes the ethereal fuzz-grunge epic of their fellow Icelanders Sigur Rós, though, less breathtaking, less magnificent. In fact, the vocals sound more Dave Gahan in his People Are People style of singing.

I guess what I am trying to say is Breathe is a good album, I'm not going to sell it secondhand, it sounds good ... it just seems like I've heard it before.

I heard this playing at a cd store. I asked the guy at the counter who it was. I thought it was coldplay. He told me it was the leaves. I bought the album. I was floored at how good it is. I know they sound a little like coldplay. They do have there own sound though. I recomend this cd to fans of coldplay,travis,radiohead.

It's interesting to find an Icelandic band who doesn't sound like Sigur Ros or The Sugarcubes---in other words, cliche. However, as good the songs are--and the band itself isn't that bad either--- it sounds soooo sooo very similar to Coldplay, Radiohead, and other popular British bands. So much that this record feels more like a collection of songs that could have been songs sung by Coldplay and Radiohead, but instead were taken by a group of Icelanders from Reykjavik. It makes me wonder what this band's motives are: to sound like these bands because they admire them? Is it supposed to be a tribute to the style of today's British pop-rock sound? Are they trying to find who they are as a band? Whatever it is, i just don't get it. As for the Icelandic touch, I didn't hear or see that either. Nice band from Iceland, but they sound so similar to other bands that it's just creepy and highly distracting. Why listen to this band when I could listen to Radiohead or Coldplay?

'Breathe' is one nice debut from this Icelandic quartet. It's true that the sound isn't exactly original and the songs here sound comparable to a few recent dour English bands, but it's pretty rare these days to find a group that is completely original. Anyways, even though it's not ground-breaking, it's still very solid.
The record starts off with the beautiful, brittle, string-sprinkled anthem, 'I Go Down' and continues from there. The tempo of the album is slow (it's not a record full of barnstormers) but the band does what it does very well. However, when some muscle does creep into the songs ('Catch', 'Crazy'), the results are stunning.
The album does tend to drag a little toward its end (with only 'Race' providing any sense of dynamic change) but it's not because the songwriting slips, it's just a sense of too many slow-burners placed next to each other in the sequencing.

It's a very solid debut but perhaps maybe next time the Leaves could try a bit more experimenting in their songwriting.

Well, first off, I'm not here to compare the Leaves to Coldplay, Sigor Ros or any other band or singer. The Leaves have compiled a great collection of songs which delve into the soul and draws out emotions some may leave hidden, unless alone in the dark.

I went out looking for a number of albums today, and came across the Leaves album, "Breathe". Utilizing Amazon.com all of the time to help me compile lists of various artists, this album happened to be one of the many I had listed. I put down my bucks, made my way to my car and listened intently to each song before I even left the parking lot! I'm not one for throwing out comparisons to other artists, so I listened to "Breathe", allowing each note, lyric and melody sink in.

"I Go Down" sets the pace from the start. A breath of musical chemistry building through each measure, comprised of calming chords and heart-felt lyricism. "Sunday Lover" continues from where "I Go Down" left off, creating another mood of longing through the vocals of Arnar, and being crisp and clean in it's presentation. Each song which follows emotes varying emotions, which I feel have an original touch and is calming to the soul.

A great album...A great buy.

Thanks Amazon.com!

The Leaves often get compared to fellow Icelanders Sigur Ros, and that comparison isn't entirely innaccurate. I suppose one could refer to them as a more accessible version of Sigur Ros. They have the same kind of dreamy, ethereal, wintery atmospheres, but with shorter songs, more hooks, and more singable vocal melodies (with lyrics in English). They also have a bit more of a Brit rock sound, similar to Radiohead (the vocals are often reminiscent of Thom Yorke).

But beyond that, comparisons should be kept to a minimum. These guys for the most part have a very distinctive sound. All of the songs are awash in peaceful, pastoral guitar melodies, adorned with layers of strings and pianos. The album's only real fault is that it's a little bit repetitive, but the songwriting is still strong throughout. And, not to bring up Sigur Ros again, but these guys lack the ingenuity of that band to take a somewhat uniform sound, and just really make it completely eveloping and enthralling for long periods of time. This album tends to get a little monotonous from start to finish, although each song individually is good.

But anyway, this is a pretty good album, and despite all of the above comparisons, it is a sound that stands out. Can't quite say it blew me away, but still good stuff.

Though people have compared Leaves to the likes of Coldplay and fellow Icelanders Sigur Ros, they are far more like Doves. Though some of the songs have melancholly string arrangements reminiscent of Sigur Ros, the overall feel to the album is far more like Doves, and hardly Coldplay or Radiohead. The lead vocalist's voice is almost identical to Doves' Jimi Goodwyn and the music itself is very similar to Doves.

Definitely worth it if you're a Doves fan or a fan of new, sad, european bed-wetter music like me.

Leaves are another nice little inoffensive indie band to add to your growing collection of Radiohead, Coldplay, The Verve, Travis, Starsailor, Lowgold, Lorien, Haven, Aqualung, Doves...sure its a nice sound and "Catch" is lovely but its hardly new to the ears - the same emotions and sounds are evoked by other bands, better. In fact this CD sounds ridiculously like Doves: the lead singer sounds exactly the same as Jimi Goodwin and sometimes the songs sound like what Doves would do.

If you want this kind of thing go for either Radiohead (because they are more experimental) or Coldplay (because they do the simplistic nice inoffensive ballad better than the rest). If you want something that sounds exactly like this but came first, go for Doves. If you want some really good Icelandic music go for Sigur Ros. But its hard to see many people being satisfied with this album.

This Icelandic band has Coldplay's style down pat. Too well in parts, sometimes it's hard to tell the two bands apart. and that can either be a good or bad thing depending on your perspective. Well, you could argue that Coldplay's entire approach is derived from Radiohead's *The Bends* to begin with. So there you go.