Statistics – Leave Your Name – Review

Statistics

Leave Your Name (Jade Tree)
By Evan Solochek

The album opens up with ambient guitars and twinkling keyboards and I was instantly intrigued. Soft and smooth vocals soon followed, and I released a sigh of relief because vocals are usually the biggest deal-breaker. A bouncing bass line accompanied by drums are next brought in, and the first track begins to take shape as a nice little indie-pop ditty. However, that’s all quickly ripped apart by the heavily distorted guitar that next came blaring in and, at that moment, I was hooked. For the following half-hour of extreme slow downs, fading vocals, atmospheric guitars, and unexpected kicks, I stared at my stereo in awe. It’s not very often that something as special as this album comes out of the endless stacks of CDs my boss routinely hands me to review. Leave Your Name is essentially a solo-album by Denver Dalley, the guitarist and co-songwriter for Desparacedos, which is quite an achievement when considering the extremely high level of musical experimentation and sophisticated arrangement on this album. The beautifully arranged piano and guitar interplay blended with the bittersweet vocals create a wholly breathtaking and engrossing album that I instantly fell in love with.
(2310 Kennwynn Rd.Wilmington, DE 19810)