by Oliver St John

     Love, Loss, Hope, Repeat is Carbon Leaf's seventh album to date, and their sophomore effort with current label Vanguard. Their previous offering, 2004's Indian Summer, was inevitably going to be a tough act to follow, but having heard the CD, I'd say they're stepping up to the plate quite handily.

     I'll admit that, even as a longtime Carbon Leaf fan, the record did not win me over on first listen. I had already heard several tracks live, including "Comfort", "Texas Stars" and current single "Learn To Fly" (streamable through the band's MySpace here), and found their energy as infectious as ever, but some of the other tracks didn't really grab me. On subsequent listenings, however, some of the other tracks began to catch my attention. The seemingly effortless vocal harmonies are more subtly blended this time around, but are as effective as ever, providing a powerful vehicle for Barry Privett's lyrical imagery.

     The lyrics on this album range from the deeply metaphorical "Block of Wood", which describes a simple piece of wood that has been whittled away beyond hope of recognition or repair, to the openly emotional title track, containing the heartfelt line "the seasons ought to be 'love, loss, hope, repeat'".

     Fans who have been collecting live recordings or attending shows recently may have heard the tracks mentioned above, or possibly the uptempo rocker "Under The Wire" and the eloquent grandfather-grandson dialogue "The War Was In Color", and even with all of these having been heard, the album still has more gems to be unearthed. The tracks "Royal One" and "A Girl And Her Horse" add further depth to the new Carbon Leaf sound.

     The Virginia quintet display perhaps the tightest musical work of their career, each of them integrating perfectly to paint a far bigger picture. Every note and every beat is seamless, a testament both to the band's deepening feel for their craft and to the seasoned ears of producer Peter Collins, who has worked with such names as Elton John, Bon Jovi and Jewel.

     The 'rootsy' feel of earlier Carbon Leaf albums appears to have been put on the backburner for this album - Carter Gravatt is as masterful on the guitar as ever, though the virtuoso mandolin performances are sadly missing from this collection. Carbon Leaf had been described has having Celtic influences, bluegrass roots and myriad other such categorization attempts, but Love, Loss, Hope, Repeat is mostly just good old rock. And while that may sadden some of their fans, Carbon Leaf are very good at rock too. Well worth a listen.

     Overall: 9/10