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Carbon LeafCarbon Leaf’s fifteenth studio album,Time is the Playgroundis both a call to action and anembrace of the moment. Marrying nostalgic storytelling to nuanced, folk-infused indie rock, theRichmond, Virginia band embroiders heartfelt melody and harmony with acoustic and electricinstrumentation to create a 12-song rumination on time, love and personal growth that’s equalparts urgent epiphany and contented exhalation.“Everybody says people don’t listen to albums anymore,” mulled Carbon Leaf frontman BarryPrivett, holed up in a coastal cottage. “So, the challenge for us was to make something that feltgood to get through from beginning to end … to listen to like a story.”Originally formed as a college cover band in 1992 and with over 3,500 famously enthused liveshows together, Carbon Leaf helped to define the aughts indie rock that they ultimately outgrewand outlasted. They first earned national recognition with “The Boxer,” a song that won theAmerican Music Awards 2002 New Music Award and made Carbon Leaf the first unsigned bandto perform before millions on the AMAs.“The Boxer” entered regular radio rotation, Carbon Leaf’s tours grew bigger and better, andwithin a couple of years they quit their day jobs and inked a record deal. The band’s fanbasesnowballed, drawn to their infectious spirit of commitment, empathy, communion, and self-reliance – not to mention supremely crafted songs with ultra-relatable, thought-provoking lyrics.After a trio of charting albums for Vanguard Records, multiple songwriting awards andheadlining shows, Carbon Leaf opted to return to the complete creative control of their indieroots. Guitarist Terry Clark, who co-founded the band with Privett and multi-instrumentalistCarter Gravatt, converted his garage into the band’s Two-Car Studio, where they’ve recordedreleases for their own Constant Ivy imprint ever since. Carbon Leaf’s DIY spirit even extendedto re-recording their three Vanguard albums in order to regain the rights.Due in September,Time is the Playgroundis 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.Time isthe Playgroundgathers the best of songs written, in fits and starts, over 15 years, alongside brandnew ideas. 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 bylongtime bassist Jon Markel and drummer Jesse Humphrey – spent a year and a half recordingand mixing the resulting songs.“Thinking about these disparate pieces of music, I began ruminating on time itself,” Privettrecalled. “The band’s been together a long time. You mature a bit and see yourself in place on thetimeline … rolling around the scenes of love and growth.”Masterfully melding saturated AC/DC guitar and squelchy Cars synth, “Backmask 1983” is a funflipbook of evocative era emblems – Farah Fawcett, “Satanic Panic,” Time Life Books, Bigfootand more – that traverses the simultaneous nexus of Privett’s childhood/adolescence and the