Carbon Leaf, the indie-rock band known for their heartfelt fusion of folk and rock, announce the release of their new album Time Is The Playground on Sept. 27. This collection captures the band’s signature sound while exploring new sonic territories. The album finds the Richmond, VA band embroidering heartfelt melody and harmony with acoustic and electric instrumentation. The result is a rumination on time, love and personal growth that’s equal parts urgent epiphany and contented exhalation.
Masterfully melding saturated AC/DC guitar and squelchy Cars synth, the album’s lead single Backmask 1983 is a fun flipbook of evocative era emblems — Farrah Fawcett, Satanic Panic, Time Life Books, Bigfoot and more — that traverses the nexus of frontman Barry Privett’s childhood/adolescence and the world’s analog/digital ages. “Without a whole lot of information, the mystery of things felt so heightened,” recalled Privett of growing up pre-Internet. “I wanted to capture some of that but also have fun with it.”
The song captures the essence of those formative years, blending wistful nostalgia with a sense of wonder and discovery. “It’s about embracing not just the mystery, but the want, the desire, the need to still believe — something that can get harder and more challenging as one ages,” Privett continues. “Backmask 1983 straddles that world in between, where you want to keep hold of those pieces that made you who you are, but you also have these new unfamiliar forces you want to embrace. This song was Carbon Leaf’s way of articulating some of that crossover.”
Time Is The Playground is Carbon Leaf’s first studio album in a decade, although they’ve hardly been idle — they released two EPs and a 27-song live performance album / Blu-ray. This album bridges past and present, featuring both rediscovered musical fragments from the last 15 years and new material. Privett dusted off old demos and shut himself away for months to finish their stories while also honing recent compositions. Carbon Leaf — completed by founding member Carter Gravatt, longtime bassist Jon Markel and drummer Jesse Humphrey — spent a year and a half recording and mixing.
Formed as a college cover band in 1992 — they have played more than 3,500 shows — Carbon Leaf helped to define the aughts indie rock they ultimately outgrew and outlasted. They first earned national recognition with The Boxer, a song that won the American Music Awards 2002 New Music Award and made Carbon Leaf the first unsigned band to perform on the AMAs.
Carbon Leaf’s career has been marked by their ability to evolve while staying true to their roots. After releasing a trio of major-label albums and support slots for the likes of Jason Mraz, John Mayer and Dave Matthews Band, the group returned to their indie origins. This spirit of independence is evident in Time Is The Playground, a culmination of song ideas spanning 15 years alongside new material, all recorded and mixed in the band’s own studio.
Time Is The Playground will be accompanied by the tireless touring almost synonymous with Carbon Leaf, who’ve become a model for self-managing bands in the digital landscape. Kicking off in St Louis, MO, on Sept. 25, the U.S. tour concluded in Richmond, VA, the band’s hometown, on Dec. 18.
Time Is The Playground Track List
1 | Time Is The Playground
2 | Backmask 1983
3 | You And Me
4 | Love For Sale
5 | Me And Mick
6 | Monday Night In Germantown
7 | City By The Sea
8 | Call Ahead
9 | Catching Windmill
10 | California Gold
11 | Pretending
12 | Neon Signs
Carbon Leaf Tour Dates
Aug. 31 / Sept. 1 | Front Royal, VA – Appaloosa Festival 2024
Sept. 25 | St. Louis, MO – City Winery St. Louis
Sept. 26 | Wichita, KS – Wave
Sept. 27 | Dallas, TX – Trees
Sept. 28 | Austin, TX – 3TEN Austin City Limits Live
Sept. 30 | Phoenix, AZ – Musical Instrument Museum
Oct. 1 | San Diego, CA – Casbah
Oct. 2 | West Hollywood, CA – The Peppermint Club
Oct. 3 | Mill Valley, CA – Sweetwater Music Hall
Oct. 4 | Portland, OR – The Get Down Music Venue
Oct. 5 | Seattle, WA – The Crocodile – Madame Lou’s
Oct. 6 | Seattle, WA – The Triple Door
Oct. 8 | Spokane, WA – The District at Knitting Factory
Oct. 9 | Boise, ID – Neurolux Lounge
Oct. 10 | Salt Lake City, UT – The State Room
Oct. 11 | Denver, CO – Bluebird Theater
Oct. 12 | Kansas City, MO – Knuckleheads
Oct. 13 | Omaha, NE – Waiting Room Lounge
Oct. 14 | Minneapolis, MN – Varsity Theater
Oct. 15 | Milwaukee, WI – Vivarium
Oct. 16 | Grand Rapids, MI – The Midtown GR
Oct. 17 | Chicago, IL – City Winery Chicago
Oct. 18 | Indianapolis, IN – Hi-Fi
Oct. 19 | Ann Arbor, MI – The Ark
Oct. 20 | Cleveland, OH – Music Box Supper Club
Nov. 8 | New York, NY – Racket NYC
Nov. 9 | Cambridge, MA – The Sinclair
Nov. 15 | Portland, ME – Portland House Of Music and Events (HOME)
Nov. 16 | South Burlington, VT – Higher Ground
Feb. 2-9 | Sarasota County, FL – String Break Cruise: Music Festival at Sea 2025
Check out Backmask 1983 above, hear more from Carbon Leaf below, and spend some time with them on their website, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
