Though originally a vehicle for songsmith Matt Joe Gow, Cities On The Sea marks the debut of The Dead Leaves as a fully fledged band; eschewing their former blue-collar roots rock for a darker, atmospheric furrow – the kind they do so well in Brooklyn.
In fact their similarity to some of New York’s finest is difficult to ignore. Cover rides brooding angles and choppy guitars in a similar pattern to gloom merchants Interpol. Meanwhile, Harm uses sighing piano chords and a forceful rhythm section to build to an ascending anthem-like revelry that evokes The National. Even Gow’s rich, bruised croon and lyrical delivery eerily recalls Matt Berninger’s. Interestingly though, its Talking Heads that is referenced openly, with a drastic reworking of This Must Be The Place closing the album, a cathartic march built on Gow’s rousing vocals.
While guest vocalists Gin Wigmore (This Living) and Emma Louise (Changing) add some variety, it is Gow’s injured baritone that centres the record, weaving even a plain refrain like “I feel it/the blood in my veins” with a passionate sincerity. Backed by a muscular rhythm section and the atmospheric swells of Andrew Pollock’s guitar, Cities On The Sea is an impressively polished set. While some of its tricks are variations, the crashing repetition of Ordinary Lot and This Living for instance, there’s no denying its stylistic consistency and moody polish.
Best of all is opener If The Shoe Fits, containing a zig-zag guitar pattern that seesaws across a thumping pulse, it’s momentum rising toward a chorus punctuated by stirring brass and militant drums. It’s got the triumphant quality of, well… The National’s Fake Empire or Bloodbuzz Ohio.
Those constant stylistic reminders are a double-edged sword, though equally austere in effect and production, the heavy shadow of their influences is drawn long across their sound, however The Dead Leaves are far from a hollowed-out facsimile. They still deliver their own genuine sense of vulnerable passion and cathartic carousing with well-arranged and well-executed songs. For that, they should be credited – not dismissed.
BY AL NEWSTEAD
Best Track: If The Shoe Fits
If You Like These, You’ll Like This: High Violet THE NATIONAL , Our Love To Admire INTERPOL,
In A Word: Mature
