Review Summary: Save your grace
By the time 2001 arrived and Unwound released
Leaves Turn Inside You, the band was undoubtedly on the cusp of dissolution; after a decade of existence, the group saw a collective vision blurred by both the personal changes of its members and a weakening sense of purpose. Above all though, Unwound’s evolution makes the most sense of their looming split. For a band that seemed so fiercely committed to raising the bar for themselves with each release, an album like
Leaves Turn Inside You provides for an almost certain breaking point, which evidently made its way into Unwound’s performances during their national tour in support of the record. Frontman Justin Trosper was dissatisfied with a good amount of the recorded material from the tour, so he and the band slaved over the tapes in hope of salvaging worthwhile moments from what would be Unwound’s last tour.
Fortunately, they were able to compile enough good stuff to be deemed worthy for the masses and thus,
Live Leaves was born. Unsurprisingly, the band managed to choose some fantastic recordings of some of the best songs in their catalogue. Among those is “We Invent You”, which opens the album in identical fashion to its studio counterpart in that feedback dominates the song for several minutes until a plodding guitar line enters. Since most of the songs on the compilation are from
Leaves Turn Inside You, Trosper’s sullen moans and the melancholic vibes from the opener dominate a large portion of the record. However, the band throws a piece of their early, raucous days with a ferocious performance of “Valentine Card”, as well as more recent pieces that recall these early roots (e.g. “Scarlette”, “Corpse Pose”) to vary the pacing. In the end though, the most breathtaking moments do come from the
Leaves material, proved no better than by a beautiful performance of “Radio Gra” that closes the compilation. The reverb drenched guitars, supported by impeccably placed strings, gradually build over a simple pattern into a rare beauty that straddles subtlety and catharsis perfectly. It all ends almost as quickly as it begins; after a few short minutes it simply dwindles into obscurity, serving as a stirring close to Unwound’s incredible career and a testament to their legacy.
