Leaves - Breathe (13 tracks) +Album Reviews

A great surprise!

David Parker | burlington, vermont United States | 05/18/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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!)"

Good melodic rock

Russell Foster | usa | 10/30/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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."

Too Coldplay for Comfort!

Kevin M. Mathews | Singapore | 12/02/2003

(3 out of 5 stars)

"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."

Nice

Frida Admirer | Earth, USA | 03/14/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"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?"

A good debut

J | Wash DC | 05/13/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"'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."

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	Leaves Breathe Genres: Alternative Rock, Pop, Rock Track Listings (13) - Disc #1 I Go Down Sunday Lover Catch Breathe Silence Crazy Alone In The Sun Epitaph Deep Blue Suppose Race We Favour
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