{"title":"The Leaf Library","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Leaf Library is an indie band that originated in Reading after Matt Ashton's previous band, Saloon, disbanded in 2004. Alongside vocalist Kate Gibson, bassist Gareth Jones, and guitarist Ben Smith, they began writing and recording music. Drummer Lewis Young joined the group permanently, bringing with him a unique collection of synths and gadgets.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThey released their first single \"Losing Places\" in 2008 through The Hooter Listens label, followed by another single on BEKO DSL in 2010. In 2011, they compiled various tracks and home recording experiments into an album titled \"Different Activities, Similar Diversions.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn 2014, The Leaf Library gained recognition with their release \"The Greater Good,\" which received significant airplay on BBC 6music. This was followed by collaborations with Smile Down Upon Us for WIAIWYA and Kingfisher Bluez in 2015. Their debut album proper \"Daylight Versions\" was released later that year along with drone and remix versions. Co-producer Simon Nelson became part of the band during this time to reproduce their complex recorded music live.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"library-music-volume-one","title":"Library Music Volume One","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Music: Volume One \u003c\/i\u003eis a sixteen track double LP collecting the North London drone pop band’s 7” singles, one-offs and compilation tracks spanning the first 14 years of the group’s existence. It includes synth pop, indie fuzz and moody motorik workouts, alongside pastoral folk sketches, dubby electronics and the occasional drone experiment. More immediate than their stretched out and slow-burning recent album tracks, the music here is taken from limited vinyl releases, album bonus tracks and music for compilations on labels as diverse as Bezirk Tapes, Second Language, Modern Aviation, and Concrete Tapes as well as the band’s current home, Where It’s At Is Where You Are.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe compilation is a happily cohesive document of an inventive band that rarely stand still for long. The band says, “We wanted to gather all our early, scattered work before we move on to our next album, to remind ourselves (and others) of some of the poppier and less characteristic things we’ve done. We’ve always felt a lot more relaxed and freer making one off things for people – it’s a chance to try things that might otherwise be daunting on a full record”. Always a prolific group this is by no means an exhaustive collection, the title giving a clue to how much more they have left to share. “We have been introduced to loads of bands that we love initially through non-album compilations – Broadcast, The Chills, Stereolab, Piano Magic, Flying Saucer Attack amongst others – we wanted to add our own to that (admittedly slightly daunting) lineage.” \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Where Its At Is Where You Are","offers":[{"title":"Black LPx2","offer_id":50487670899019,"sku":"1168387","price":27.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/0d5fb163-2e3a-4723-8910-51511fb8082a_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727626824"},{"product_id":"the-world-is-a-bell","title":"The World Is A Bell","description":"\u003cp\u003eFor fans of Insides, Stereolab, Low, Bark Psychosis, Yo La Tengo, Seefeel, Julia Holter. The record is an ambitious and expansive update of their warm, hypnotic drone-pop encompassing gently pulsing electronics, chiming guitars, minimalist piano, acoustic and synthesised drones, noise, improv and intricate brass and string arrangements, all in the serviceof the band’s most assured and experimental songwriting yet. Two years in the making it features guest contributions from (amongst others) celebrated singer Ed Dowie, noise group Far Rainbow, fellow space-pop travellers Firestations and the string quartet Iskra Strings. It draws on all aspects of the band’s work so far, from indie guitar pop to ambient atmospherics, via surging rhythms and layered, melancholic vocals. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Where Its At Is Where You Are","offers":[{"title":"Pink | LP | x2","offer_id":50498620195147,"sku":"1075948","price":24.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50498620293451,"sku":"1075947","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/83fd24b1-dc1f-47e6-a6a4-15f365276341_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727751327"},{"product_id":"about-minerals","title":"About Minerals","description":"\u003cp\u003eAmbient LP from north London kosmische dream pop ensemble. The Leaf Library play an intricate and playful game with lush guitar drones and soundscapes, layering dreamy vocals and field recordings. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Where Its At Is Where You Are","offers":[{"title":"Black | LP","offer_id":50498681078091,"sku":"1089087","price":17.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/0ed4b21d-170a-4d76-a9f2-821bb7c09720_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727753425"},{"product_id":"after-the-rain-strange-seeds","title":"After The Rain, Strange Seeds","description":"\u003cp\u003eLondon quartet The Leaf Library return with their bold new album \u003cem\u003eAfter The Rain, Strange Seeds\u003c\/em\u003e. A luminous collection of pastoral indiepop, drawing inspiration from suburban isolation, unreliable memories and the surreality of the weather. Their most immediate and melodic work to date, the richly evocative songs brim with chiming guitars, buzzing organs and warm, dulcet strings, evoking Yo La Tengo’s more contemplative moments, The Clientele’s autumnal jangle pop and early Stereolab’s motorik melodicism. The sound of the album is defined by mixer John McEntire, whose work with Stereolab and Yo La Tengo (as well as a member of Tortoise\/The Sea And Cake) have been major inspirations to the band.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe album explores themes of memory and place, albeit through an abstract haze – returning again and again to specific moments frozen in time: midsummer bright hot days in the Chilterns (“Sun In My Room”), meteorology and the strange movement of the weather (“Colour Chant”), red kites circling over suburban motorways (“Some Circling”), and the uncanny feeling of dusk and nighttime creatures on “The Reader’s Lamp” (titled by celebrated film director Peter Strickland). The lyrics are vivid yet elliptical, strung with abstract ideas and imagery, conjuring a gently unsettling, though never unwelcoming atmosphere. Not quite trusting your own recollection of things, while marvelling at the oddness of the natural world, the album’s title a good summation of the mix of strangeness and hope contained within.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Fika Recordings","offers":[{"title":"LP - Yellow","offer_id":56311481205067,"sku":"R0443-3728","price":23.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":56311481237835,"sku":"R0443-5222","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/LeafLibrary-AfterTheRain_StrangeSeeds.jpg?v=1768492231"},{"product_id":"library-music-volume-two","title":"Library Music: Volume Two","description":"\u003cp\u003eFollowing the much-loved \u003ci\u003eLibrary Music: Volume One\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003cb\u003eThe Leaf Library\u003c\/b\u003e return with a second trip through the edges of their catalogue, pulling together rare recordings, compilation cuts, limited releases, collaborations and hidden gems into a vivid double LP of electronic indie pop in all its forms.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis is far more than an odds-and-ends set. Across thirteen tracks, \u003cb\u003eThe Leaf Library\u003c\/b\u003e open up the in-between spaces where ideas drift and expand, from hypnotic drones and motorik rhythms to glowing analogue textures, pastoral electronics and their quietly melodic melancholy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt moves from the electro-pop of \u003ci\u003eFlowers At The Border\u003c\/i\u003e and the psych rock-adjacent \u003ci\u003eBuilding Better Worlds\u003c\/i\u003e to the gentle chamber shuffle of \u003ci\u003eKendrick Road\u003c\/i\u003e, stretching from the 22 minute folk kosmiche epic \u003ci\u003eVersatile Clouds\u003c\/i\u003e to the 59 second punctuation mark of \u003ci\u003eHarmonic Runout\u003c\/i\u003e. As \u003cb\u003eMatt Ashton\u003c\/b\u003e puts it, these pieces tell their own story.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Where Its At Is Where You Are","offers":[{"title":"2LP -Black","offer_id":58133006549323,"sku":"R0744-4138","price":29.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/LeafLibrary-LibraryMusicVolumeTwo-1.jpg?v=1786719211"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/collections\/test_e9ff1273_thumbnail_4096_f28b61fd-417c-4d3f-95f8-450b079bdf1a.jpg?v=1727626804","url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/de\/collections\/the-leaf-library.oembed","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}