Leaves - The Angela Test (2005)

Genre- Indie Rock, Pop

The Leaves are from Iceland and if you are like me you must wonder if they sound like Sigur Ros. Though they do employ similar instrumentation and experimentation as Sigur Ros, they sound much more like another band. In fact, they sound so much like this other band you could mistake the two for being the same band. The Leaves sound so much like Coldplay that it is distracting to listen to. You wonder how they can get away with such theft of sound. The Angela Test is a good album though. In fact, it might even be better than X & Y. It's just very hard to appreciate their music when you know another band has pioneered and dominated the industry with this sound. To the Leaves credit, I must admit that they have more complex arrangements and tend to experiment more than Coldplay, which makes for some interesting songs. Arnar Gudjonsson sounds so much like Chris Martin that you would swear he is a clone. The only difference is Gudjonsson writes more intelligent and thought provoking lyrics. If this album were more original I would rate it very high because this is a good album. I really just can't get past the similarity to Coldplay though. Best songs are Shakma and Good Enough.

Rating- 6/10