Timeless Stories and Bold New Sound: Carbon Leaf Announces New Album

Timeless Stories and Bold New Sound:
Carbon Leaf Announces New Album ‘Time Is The Playground’ Out September 27th, 2024Journey Back to the ’80s with Lead Single “Backmask 1983,”
Out Today on all Digital Platforms

Photo credit: Brittany Diliberto

Carbon Leaf, the acclaimed rock band known for their unique blend of folk, Americana, and rock influences, is thrilled to announce the upcoming release of their new album, Time Is The Playground, out September 27th. Recorded at the band’s own Two-Car Studio, the 12-song collection is both a call to action and an embrace of the moment. Marrying nostalgic storytelling with nuanced, folk-infused indie rock, the album finds the Richmond, Virginia band embroidering heartfelt melody and harmony with acoustic and electric instrumentation. The result is a brilliant rumination on time, love and personal growth that’s equal parts urgent epiphany and contented exhalation. Pre-orders/Pre-saves for Time Is The Playground, will launch this Tuesday, August 6, HERE.

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 simultaneous 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 full-length album in a decade, during which they released two EPs and a 27-song live performance album and Blu-ray. This album bridges past and present, featuring both rediscovered musical fragments from the last 15 years and brand new material. Privett dusted off old demos and shut himself away for months to finish their stories while also honing recent compositions. With Clark engineering, 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 the resulting songs.

Originally formed as a college cover band in 1992 and with over 3,500 famously enthused live shows together, Carbon Leaf helped to define the aughts indie rock that 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 before millions 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 charting albums for Vanguard Records, 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 Wednesday, September 25th, the U.S. tour will make stops in major cities, including Austin, Seattle, Denver, Chicago, Boston, and NYC, before concluding in Richmond, VA, the band’s hometown, on Saturday, December 18th. For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit carbonleaf.com.

‘Time Is The Playground’
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
Friday, July 26th – Baltimore, MD – Union Craft Brewing
Saturday, August 31st – Sunday, September 1st – Front Royal, VA – Appaloosa Festival 2024
Wednesday, September 25th – St. Louis, MO – City Winery St. Louis
Thursday, September 26th – Wichita, KS – Wave
Friday, September 27th – Dallas, TX – Trees
Saturday, September 28th – Austin, TX – 3TEN Austin City Limits Live
Monday, September 30th – Phoenix, AZ – Musical Instrument Museum
Tuesday, October 1st – San Diego, CA – Casbah
Wednesday, October 2nd – West Hollywood, CA – The Peppermint Club
Thursday, October 3rd – Mill Valley, CA – Sweetwater Music Hall
Friday, October 4th – Portland, OR – The Get Down Music Venue
Saturday, October 5th – Seattle, WA – The Crocodile – Madame Lou’s
Sunday, October 6th – Seattle, WA – The Triple Door (5:00 PM Early Show)
Sunday, October 6th – Seattle, WA – The Triple Door (8:00 PM Late Show)
Tuesday, October 8th – Spokane, WA – The District at Knitting Factory
Wednesday, October 9th – Boise, ID – Neurolux Lounge
Thursday, October 10th – Salt Lake City, UT – The State Room
Friday, October 11th – Denver, CO – Bluebird Theater
Saturday, October 12th – Kansas City, MO – Knuckleheads
Sunday, October 13th – Omaha, NE – Waiting Room Lounge
Monday, October 14th – Minneapolis, MN – Varsity Theater
Tuesday, October 15th – Milwaukee, WI – Vivarium
Wednesday, October 16th – Grand Rapids, MI – The Midtown GR
Thursday, October 17th – Chicago, IL – City Winery Chicago
Friday, October 18th – Indianapolis, IN – Hi-Fi
Saturday, October 19th – Ann Arbor, MI – The Ark
Sunday, October 20th – Cleveland, OH – Music Box Supper Club
Friday, November 8th – New York, NY – Racket NYC
Saturday, November 9th – Cambridge, MA – The Sinclair
Friday, November 15th – Portland, ME – Portland House Of Music and Events (HOME)
Saturday, November 16th – South Burlington, VT – Higher Ground
February 2nd – 9th, 2025 – Sarasota County, FL – String Break Cruise: Music Festival at Sea 2025