REALEAF

Israeli band Realeaf was formed in 2006 and released this, their first album, in 2007 through their own label they created for their music.

Their music travels a wide scope of emotions, from delicate and soothing to rock passages with the guitar leading the way to climatic, powerful and moving. The band knows how to create effective space-rock themes with psychedelic elements and a good example of that would be the track Floating Underground, which incidentally has a very prominent and appealing bass line. The synths add a great spacey atmosphere with their effects and the guitars soars through them; all this results in an excellent tune. The tracks flow very well from one to the next (some are directly connected) and there is a very homogenous sound to the album; A somewhat sad and depressed mood that yet has optimism in it. A good example of that is the beautiful song Peaceful 5 which while being short and acoustic mixes the melancholy of the album with a brighter than usual sense than the rest of the songs on this album; the vocal harmony of the band members are done well and are very beautiful. Sound references would be the spacey rock period of Porcupine Tree (Sky Moves Sideways) with a bit of the later material as well with touches of symphonic-prog/art-rock a-la King Crimson and Anekdoten as is evident from the flute part; also there are post-rock characteristics of climatic guitar riffs peaks.

The vocals are not the strong side of the band, though they do not detract much from the music. Not that they are bad, but a stronger, fuller voice style would give the music a stronger effect.

Overall, an enjoyable album I'll come back to listen to; however I do hope they'll form more of their own sound and rely less on the influences I mentioned above.

3.5 stars.

Greg Walker has this to say about this band on his web-site. "Beautiful melancholy progressive, like a mix of ANEKDOTEN, LANDBERK and PORCUPINE TREE. One of the best things i've heard from Isreal". I bought it right away knowing Greg's excellent taste in music, this was before REALEAF were added to the site by Avestin. These four guys have spent a lot of time listening to seventies music, and have come up with a psychedelic gem called "Possibly Not". Early PORCUPINE TREE is a definite reference like Assaf says in the bio. This is sad and spacey with psychedelic lyrics. I love this stuff.

"Giant Bus In The Sky" opens with gentle guitar as light drums and synths come in.This is mellow and melancholic. The sound is building slowly. Vocals 2 1/2 minutes in.The bass is prominant.This is such a dreamy tune.Guitar after 7 minutes is heavenly, and then it gets heavy to end it. "Floating Underground" is an instrumental that features a slow but steady beat as raw guitar melodies echo over top. Awesome sound. PORCUPINE TREE-like synths come in at 2 minutes. A nice heavy bass follows. The psychedelic guitar is ripping it up as synths cry out. Incredible sound ! "Something Breaks (Pt.1)" opens with soft vocals as guitar gently plays and drums beat lightly. A heavy sound arrives a minute in. Check out the bass ! Processed vocals a minute later and then it kicks into a higher gear. It settles quickly as the tempo and mood change often. This is such an outstanding track. "The Rising (Pt.1)" is less then a minute of what sounds like wind blowing and water flowing.

"Everything's Going South" opens with gentle guitar before spoken words come in reminding me of "The Necromancer" by RUSH. Wilson-like vocals follow with light drums, guitar and a fuller sound that builds. "A Peaceful V" opens with reserved vocals that are almost spoken as guitar is strummed lightly. It picks up a bit a minute in. Multi-vocal melodies and prominant bass follow before returning to original sound. "Walking Away With Closed Eyes" is again very mellow as guitar and drums take turns before vocals arrive. Multi-vocals after a minute.Then some blistering guitar comes in with heavy bass. It calms right down quickly then multi-vocals are back 3 minutes in as sound starts to build. "Possibly Not" is the 9 minute title track to end the album. The intro is dark with guitar and drums. Spacey synths join in and then vocals 2 minutes in. The synths and almost spoken vocals remind me so much of PORCUPINE TREE. Amazing soundscape. He's singing before 5 minutes. The song starts to get a little freaky then the guitar comes in and lights it up as the drummer puts on a show. It gets really heavy 7 minutes in. It then becomes silent until what sounds like an atom bomb goes off ends the track and album.

I highly recommend this record to fans of early PORCUPINE TREE and fans of Psychedelic music. Great album.