Music Review // Avi Wisnia "Catching Leaves"

 https://open.spotify.com/album/7kPf6n2feTxZRbWAcdIP54 //

If you've been following the single releases of Avi Wisnia (as you should have been) then you will recognize the first song on "Catching Leaves" as the title track and the third song as the most recent single release "Come Home To".    Basing what an entire album might sound like on those two songs seems like it might not be easy but you can look at this entire album as somewhat of an extension of them to the point where if you aren't into this album after the first three songs it just might not do it for you.

A song such as "You're Wrong" just hits with a large amount of energy, driven by a piano, and it reminds me of The Rocket Summer.  This is one of the only times I really can bring about another artist to compare Avi Wisnia with, as a lot of these songs can be put into moods and subgenres but not sound like other artists.  This is made perfectly clear with "Somebody Else's Fault", as the tone shifts to one which is slower and sadder but yet it still has this killer guitar solo.  While those two things can be heard in other music they rarely come together and Avi Wisnia just makes them work to perfection.

"Make Me Cry" is a pivotal point for "Catching Leaves", as the mood of the album seems to shift.   At first, the songs feel more upbeat (regardless of the lyrical content) but by this second half of the album it just feels as if they take a more somber turn, becoming more serious and even sad.   It is in this way that I feel Avi Wisnia has not only captured the essence of this album but the entire essence of Autumn as you can imagine the leaves turning colors and it's pretty, but then when they fall they essentially die and that's sad.

With horns and a piano, "Make Me Cry" also has this big musical number feel to it, like you could see it as part of a stage show which is much larger than I can imagine.  "How to Fight Loneliness" is a smooth jazz jam that suggests to "Just smile all the time" and perhaps that is why I smile a lot.   "Simple Words" feels a little bit folk with some banjo sounds and then "Just Another Daydream" has that horns and pianos jazz combo again.  "Goodnight" does feel like a lullaby but this album ends faster with "Sky Blue Sky" and it really just makes me want to go back and listen to it all again.