An expansive bedroom pop sound shines across MOLT, the riveting debut album from NYC-based artist Leafboy. An array of sounds immerse, from gorgeous folk intricacy to string-touched ardor and more minimalist vulnerability. MOLT also achieves a strong thematic focus, capturing the molting of the heart and self as one navigates struggles of self-identity, unrequited love, and loss — eventually reaching a cathartic period of healing and personal growth.
“i feel pretty” opens the album with a heartrending folk intimacy, where initially lush vocals and flickering acoustics swell into an emotive title-bearing profession — defiant in the “I don’t care what you say” punctuation. The textured, chiming guitar work and passionate vocals meld gorgeously through, as the artful contrasts flow. Self-confidence apparent in the “I feel pretty, I don’t care what you say” rubs against raw self-awareness like “I’m obsessive and deadly clingy,” exposing growth through uncomfortable vulnerability. The ensuing “give me that high” stirs with a ghostly folk aesthetic, more minimalist in its lush strums as vocals escalate in analyzing co-dependent euphoria and identity distortion: “I like who I am when I’m around you / God, I hate who I am when I’m alone.” The album’s opening two tracks envelop in showcasing the overarching “molting” concept, shedding raw dependency and self-doubt as identity reshapes through intimacy, validation, and the uneasy comedown of being alone.
While MOLT shows direct, emotional clarity on tracks like “i feel pretty,” it also excels in rawer displays of emotion. “will i be?” is an example of such, alternating between slight acoustic strums and meek questioning into a fervent vocal ferocity — asking repeatedly “will I be?” following the lusher initial “tell me how much longer will I be on your mind?” The subsequent “this isn’t a song” is a seamless continuation, aesthetically and thematically — acting as a complete emotional rupture. “This isn’t a song / It’s everything I’ve done wrong,” the vocals emanate, fully shedding artifice and leaving grief, fixation, and unfiltered self-reckoning in its wake. This particular duo of tracks further embody the album’s central “molting” motif, tracing the tension between carefully curated selves and the vulnerability that emerges when those layers are stripped away.
“i miss my innocent youth” is another standout, resembling a cross between The Wrens’ layered guitar sophistication and Radiohead’s knack for hauntingly cinematic vocal impact. A spacious folk chilliness lingers into a title-referencing call, where trickling guitars and weepy vocal entrancement enthrall. The final minute is spectacular, weaving the moving vocal performance — shades of Jeff Buckley and Thom Yorke alike — amidst beautiful guitar-based hypnotics.
The album’s highlights are abundant. Similarly climactic is the string-laden punchiness of “cold shoulder,” where sincere vocal vulnerabilities lament on loss — “now I’m losing your scent” — as dramatic vocal responses meet the lead’s theatrical pull. Sharp string pulses, elegant piano, and memorable vocals conjure a sound fondly reminiscent of a darker Field Music. An equally stellar music video for the track, below, is also a must-see. MOLT is a gorgeous success of an album from Leafboy, succeeding in both its molting-based concept and impressive, high-quality songwriting.
