Posts Tagged ‘Leapling’

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Brooklyn’s Leapling isn’t much for rules, and the band’s debut album “Vacant Page”, (set to be co-released by Exploding In Sound Records and Inflated Records in 2015) is going to prove it. Take the album’s first single, “Crooked,” which  it may have an indie-rock framework, but its hip-hop backbone avoids nearly all the tricks traditional rock bands use. The processed drums cut in and out quickly, with cymbal hits decaying as quickly as they emerge. Staccato guitar strikes cut in between this broken groove, allowing vocalist Dan Arnes to use his soulful vocals as the song’s anchor. Leapling builds its identity around this glitchy take on Death Cab For Cutie, even if “Crooked” sees the group willingly throwing a wrench in the machine just to see what will happen.

 

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Already sharedCrooked,” the lead single from Brooklyn quartet Leapling’s upcoming debut album “Vacant Page”.

Now here’s another promising track from the project. “Silent Stone” is spacier than “Crooked,” an antsy float with free jazz tendencies. But when the climax kicks in, the song shows itself to be indie-rock through and through, with the Death Cab pedigree we’ve previously noted still shining through. It further cements Vacant Page as one of next year’s most exciting underground releases.

LEAPLING – ” Crooked “

Posted: January 16, 2015 in MUSIC
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Leapling’s “Crooked” is a lot of different things at once: a sauntering rock song that recalls early era Death Cab for Cutie, a soppy and shoulder-rolling dance number that doesn’t seem like it should get you to move but does, and a mellow rumination on existential dream and desire. “I’ve been waiting for the world to turn my way/ to remind me of a long and better day,” vocalist Dan Arnes sings plainly. His unaffected singing style allow the drums and pointed magnetic guitar playing to shimmer around him, cyclical and repetitive but never boring. The riff is kind of like cheap wine in a way: better the more that you have of it. The Brooklyn-based four-piece will release their debut album, “Vacant Page”, early next year. Listen to “Crooked”

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For a song called “N.E.R.V.E.,” this sounds preternaturally chill. Perhaps it’s because they’re not using nerve in the traditional sense of the word. Frontman Dan Arnes doesn’t sound nervous or anxious here; he sounds resigned. “You said I had a lot of nerve / N-E-R-V-E,” spelling it out like a Sesame Street rhyme, It’s murky as to whether he’s in the right in whatever fight he’s involved in, and it’s clear that he doesn’t fully know either: “There’s a reason I am writing words that are incomplete.” All of Leapling’s songs are inhibited with an uneasy sense of murmured calmness, and it’s more pronounced here than ever. The drums roll along like billowing storm clouds, and the guitar and bass take on the laidback attitude. “N.E.R.V.E.” is a foggy, somber highlight from the Brooklyn band’s upcoming debut full-lengthVacant Page”is out 10th February via Inflated Records/Exploding In Sound Records.