Ornament, The

Gold Leaves is Grant Olson's solo project, one half of the Seattle psych/folk duo Arthur & Yu. On his debut, he focuses more on the folk side of things, also blending in some orchestral pop. The record maintains the same mellow tone throughout, with only a few tracks standing out amongst others. There are melodies and harmonies abound, but there are unfortunately only a handful of moments where they're strong enough to be memorable. All tracks FCC clean. Try tracks 5, 7, 9.

1. 5:03 Warm organ, earthy male vocals. Mid-tempo, guitar/tambourine/harmony vocals. Poppy/folky.
2. 3:42 Like first song, but faster paced
3. 3:37 More folky, americana feel but still a pop song. Sounds like a song an indie band would play if they were exploring the western frontier.
4. 4:08 Continues into country/folk territory. Sounds like Fleet Foxes.
5. * 4:02 Thumping drums, acoustic & electric guitar, string section. Evocative, easy highlight.
6. 4:38 Slow paced, builds up steam halfway through. Then it slows down with guitar/piano/drums in background while vocals and echoing harmonies are in the front.
7. * 3:39 First half of song is like most of album, then wild drums appear in the background and inspire a sweet 2nd half with repeating vocals.
8. 4:03 Acoustic guitar, folky song which ends with “shoot out at end of a Western” type music.
9. * 5:00 In the same vein as track 8, this is the music that'd play at the end of a Western as the hero rides off into the sunset.