Muleskinner

Issue date: 10/5/06 Section: Features

tunes- Carbon Leaf, from Richmond, Va., looks to flood the airwaves with their second major record label release "Love, Loss, Hope, Repeat". The group formed in 1992 at Randolf- Macon College, located in Ashland, Va., and has been on the move ever since.

With today's music becoming more diverse by the day, it has become the norm to hear bands that blend different musical styles to achieve a distinct sound. On the flip side of this, there are bands who take their musical influences and melt them into one non-descript, monotonous sound. Carbon Leaf's new release "Love, Loss, Hope, Repeat" falls into the latter of the two.

The group Carbon Leaf resides in Richmond, Va., and has been making a name for themselves since 2002, when they were the only unsigned band ever to play at the American Music Awards, according to the band's Web site.

"Love, Loss, Hope, Repeat" is the seventh album recorded by Carbon Leaf and the second on a major record label. While the album marks a turning point for the band (sophomoric releases on major labels bring pressure), it seems Carbon Leaf may have gone too main stream to boost record sales.

While the group has solid rhythm and good harmonizing vocals, there is nothing noteworthy about any of the songs until the ninth track "The War was in Color." Until then, every song has the same feel, tempo and time signature.

"The War was in Color" is about a grandfather showing his grandson black and white pictures of when he was in the war. The grandfather goes on to tell the grandson about the trials and tribulations of war and how it was remembered by him. A main point in the song is how those of us who never been in a war can make assumptions of how things were, but without first-hand experience, those assumptions are just that - assumptions.

One of the only other songs that stands out on the album is "Texas Stars," which, once again, is a very simple song similar to the others, but it has a few texture builds to give it some energy that almost every other song is lacking.

The albums title track could be the most average of the entire album, with nothing standing out in the song. Simple chord progressions, simple rhythms and simple lyrics make for a simple song, which is not always bad, but using this formula for eight songs on an 11-song album makes for a boring album.

Carbon Leaf has talent; that is not the issue in this album. The problem arises when a band tries to take the same approach to every song on an album. While it can provide a foundation or basis for a group's sound, if the formula doesn't stand out, it can put the album into two categories: those that are boring after one listen and those that would make for good background music in Wendy's.

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