It’s been too long since Carbon Leaf’s last album.
How do you count their last album? Their last release was 2011’s Live, Acoustic, and In Cinemascope!, which, as you can tell from the title, is an acoustic live album. How the West Was One and Christmas Child, both 2010, were longer than EPs but shorter than LPs. I guess that makes 2009’s Nothing Rhymes With Woman the last full length album.
Well, this week they released Ghost Dragon Attacks Castle. They had announced another title for the album, “The Lord of the Rings of the Trees,” but this new album is that.
And it’s very, very good. I love it.
Ghost Dragon hearkens back to their earlier sound. On Twitter I’ve seen it compared to their third album, Ether-Electified Porch Music, but I’m reminded far more of 2001’s Echo Echo. Either way, the album has more of a Celtic/folky feel and less of the alt-indie feel that recent albums have had.
Also this week, the band released a free sampler through NoiseTrade. The NoiseTrade Sampler has 18 tracks — two from Ghost Dragon, Echo Echo‘s “The Boxer,” a couple of tracks from How the West Was One, and a veritable slew of live tracks ranging from Live, Acoustic to rare, unreleased live cuts. And it’s free.
Did I mention that it’s free? 🙂
Carbon Leaf is a band that’s been a part of my life since college, quite literally. The first time I saw them was at a KA party at the University of Richmond. I bought their first album there, and the band actually gave me the second during a gig at The Cellar, Richmond’s on campus bar. In the last decade I’ve only seen them live three times (soon to be four — they’re performing at Shamrock Fest next month). I love the music.
And if you want to know where my short story “Make-Believe” came from, download the sampler — Carbon Leaf’s song “November (Make Believe)” was an influence.
Give the sampler a try. It’s free, and you’re sure to like it. 🙂
What are you still reading this for? Go! Download!