Leaves of Green

Leaves of Green is a wonderful little solo project from James Madole, a 20 year old student living in NYC. His debut album is called 'Imago' and it's beautiful. To learn that everything about this album has been not only recorded by one person alone, but has also been written and orchestrated completely by that same person is something which I find quite amazing.

The only instruments which were used on this album were a guitar, a ukelele, and a keyboard. Along with some delicate vocals, the end result is a beautifully stripped down record. It's something which music is now continually drifting away from, but I'm glad to see that it's still alive and well within some artists, proving you don't really need tonnes of expensive equipment or the most unusual noises, in order to create the best kind of music. I could compare some of the sounds on this album to those of Grizzly Bear, Elliott Smith or Nick Drake. The acoustic folk-inspired guitar bounces off the gently eerie vocals and layers of keys to create such an atmospheric sound. Mixing low-fi pop with a more traditionally acoustic and melodic sound is a smart move. Everything fits together quite unexpectedly and creates something experimentally unique but technically impressive.

Imago is a wonderful debut, I believe it has an edge that would appeal to so many different kinds of listeners, and it's a record in which you can tell so much time and effort has been placed into making it just right. you can download the whole thing for free here. Before doing so, have a listen to a couple of my favorite tracks from the album here:

Manhattan Ave. by Leaves of Green

Convictions Pt. 1 by Leaves of Green