Labels: Hobbledehoy
Review by: MH
This is another band that has taken their time in releasing new material. Perth’s The Leap Year put their first album out back in 2007 and “The Narrowing” is their sophomore effort. I’m hearing them for the first time though and it’s fairly downbeat and slow indie. I hear similar guitar tones to Arrows although I think the similarities end there while the vocals are kind of baritone and miserable and are somewhere between spoken and sung. Comparisons to the vocal-style of The National are not entirely wayward. Hints of a shoegaze guitar sound creeps in here and there too. It’s good and something of a grower as it took me a while to get into but repeated listens seem to bring something new out in the music each time. The songs themselves are reasonably lengthy and the closing track is over 7 minutes long. “Surprise Party” would be my choice of my favourite track thanks mainly to the overriding sadness that reigns throughout starting right from the opening riff. “Town Crying” is another choice. As luck would have it, they’re playing here in a few weeks and I’ll certainly be getting along to that one.