Leaves Of Green 01-07-12

by David Holland

A little over a week ago, I was sitting in my house & debating what to do. I found out that my sister was heading to NYC so I figured I'd catch a ride & go meet up with Carolyn to catch a random indie show. While sitting down at her laptop & pouring over concert listings, I mentioned that a band called Leaves Of Green was performing at Piano's. She mentioned that she had heard of them so that is where we decided to go pitch our tent.

This was my first time coming across the band so I had no idea what to expect outside of a few songs I sampled online. It did not sound bad so I figured it would be at worst a decent show. I ended up highly enjoying their 8 song set in a packed upstairs lounge.

Leaves Of Green is the project of 20 year old singer-songwriter James Madole although this show featured a second person on guitar. When I first saw them setup, I figured with it being James on acoustic & his running mate on electric, it would be a duet type performance. Instead, it was a set filled with a lot of sonic goth sounds & vibes that fit beautifully around James' lyrics. Quite honestly it had a bit of a Smashing Pumpkins vibe to it at times in terms of the guitar sounds echoing albeit with much less tools at their disposal.

Of the 8 songs played, the first 7 are available on the debut album Imago which is available on their Bandcamp page by clicking here. While I enjoyed many of the songs, my favorite ended up being the finale East 4th which is not on their debut album but will be recorded soon. If you are in the NYC area, I'd highly suggest checking out Leaves Of Green especially if you are into music with a touch of a gothic sonic vibe without the phoniness that many acts bring to the table.