Feel the Leaf
Thursday night was a strange mixed bill that had to be investigated. Brooklyn Band Dirty on Purpose was back in Seattle as the opener. We loved them on their last visit and this night would be no different. The band sounded incredible in Chop Suey. And if you’ve never had a chance to see their guitarist – he does some amazing things with distortion. They brought a somewhat traditional rock sound and set-up; which seemed out of place when Album Leaf started to haul all their gear up. We counted no less than 10 people on stage at any one time setting up equipment; much of which looked about as sophisticated as a commodore 64. Lots of strange knobs and old school keyboards. Remember the controls on the Millenium Falcon? Similiar to those.
Seattlest is under the impression that timing can be everything when it comes to a show. It took Album Leaf longer than normal to get everything all set up; but when they finally started it was well worth the wait. We fell in love with their new album - Into the Blue Again, but weren’t sure how it would all translate live. This is our soundtrack to the winter. We were surprised to hear them blend all this lo-fi equipment into such a rich sound. The drummer was a human metronome, and the band was full of real musicians. It was a near exact reproduction of most of the material from their new album and a few of their old classics. The songs boomed to life and the crowd was finally bopping their heads a little. The screen effects and lighting in the background helped mellow the mood. This is a great band to sit and listen to, but not a band that’s meant to induce much movement. That’s O.K. – this set was all about chilling out. At the end of the show we reflected on winter wonderlands, hot apple cider, and visions of old Saint Nick. Then we remembered our daughter mentioned wanting a damn Nintendo Wii. Oh well, at least there’s Album Leaf on our Ipod….
Photo courtesy of Flickr user .damien
(p.s. damien – pick up your damn camera bag off the floor and keep it on your back!)
