Time Is the Playground

Muscle Cars Rusting in The Woods

About 10 years since their last full length LP, this one was a long time coming for many reasons. Mainly trouble funding it, the pandemic didn't help, and then Barry (who's chief songwriter and lyricist) didn't want to release something that was just OK. Once latching onto a theme and a sound, the album started taking off. Wanting to go into a decidedly more rock oriented sound, this album is different but also familiar in a way, as it tackles themes of nostalgia, existentialism, and the paranormal.

It took a minute for me to come around to it admittedly. When I first heard it I was kind of shocked that not a single song stood out to me, and the bigger emphasis on rock chords and progressions kind of took me out of the Carbon Leaf I was acclimated to up until now. Indeed, the acoustic EP's were so good I was hoping for that direction being what was bound for this one. Several relistens later and reading an interview about this album, I've come to appreciate it a bit more and I do firmly think this album will take fans by surprise once they dig into it. There's a lot of great songs here with fascinating lyrical observations and musings, and the instrumentation is louder but also very detailed as they tend to be, and they still haven't lost that carbon leaf style entirely either.

So yeah, while I might've been a little underwhelmed at first, I think that was mainly due to my expectations, and I think as I play this one more it will certainly make more sense to me as time goes on.

I'm so glad this band is still around, touring, making music, making memories. Cheers!