Leave It All Behind, by The Foreign Exchange

Leave It All Behind

by The Foreign Exchange

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Saar3 Classic buttery smooth album, that'll get anyone through their days, nights afternoons whatever! Favorite track: Take Off The Blues feat. Darien Brockington.

lynnjamin I can't even put in words why I love this album. What Nicolay has done here is...yup. Still no words for it.

Rodrecas Davis This is the song that got me hooked. Still. Favorite track: Daykeeper feat. Muhsinah.

sacdaddy82 Fans of "Connected" may have been shocked by the change in sound, but this album is start-to-finish great! I didn't mark a fave track. It's tied between Take Off The Blues and House Of Cards.

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Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
The Grammy Nominated 2008 sophomore album, on double compact disc including all instrumentals!

Includes unlimited streaming of Leave It All Behind via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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1.	Daykeeper feat. Muhsinah 04:41 video	buy track
2.	Take Off The Blues feat. Darien Brockington 04:06 video	buy track
3.	All Or Nothing/Coming Home To You feat. Darien Brockington 04:54	buy track
4.	I Wanna Know 03:01 video	buy track
5.	House Of Cards feat. Muhsinah 03:19 video	buy track
6.	Sweeter Than You 03:46	buy track
7.	Valediction 02:01	buy track
8.	If She Breaks Your Heart feat. YahZarah 05:20	buy track
9.	If This Is Love feat. YahZarah 04:30	buy track
10.	Something To Behold feat. Darien Brockington & Muhsinah 04:52	buy track
11.	Leave It All Behind 03:37	buy track

about

The second Foreign Exchange album reverses the rapping/singing split of the first. Not only is Leave It All Behind much more an R&B album than 2004's Connected -- it's more an R&B album than a lot of modern releases filed in that section, given that Phonte slips into MC mode only twice while otherwise putting his sensitive singing voice to full use. Even more nuanced and textured, and therefore more musical than Connected, Leave It All Behind is a concise and complete set of songs that brings out the best of both producer Nicolay and Phonte. More than ever, Nicolay's mellow but moving productions have that lingering, memory-triggering effect mastered by the late J Dilla, and a multitude of shades is cast: dreamy folk-soul that ranks with the Beauty Room and latter-day 4hero, lean and contemporary constructions that would fit within any adult-oriented R&B station's playlist, deceptively frictional backdrops that bridge hip-hop to West London broken beat, and even the intermittent unclassifiable moment, with several styles thrown into swirls of crescendo-enhanced dramatics. Joined by Connected accomplices Darien Brockington and YahZarah (her lead turn on "If She Breaks Your Heart" sounds even more like a lost Stevie/Minnie collaboration than the Jungle Fever soundtrack original), as well as Muhsinah (an earthbound Georgia Anne Muldrow), Phonte does not deliver knockouts, yet he is not out of his depth and never reaches beyond his grasp, exuding warmth and sincerity as effectively as anyone praised for inhuman range. Even when his lyrics deal in the less complicated aspects of relationships, his voice provides a gently bittersweet tint, as a man with his guard down whose articulations are neither reactionary nor based on some false posture. And with love as its core rather than impulsive lust, as well as its unified feel, the album is not just a unique and exceptional R&B album but also a soundtrack or means of communication -- when heat-of-the-moment resentment, a lump in the throat, or anxious longing get in the way -- for a real-life adult relationship. (Andy Kellman for AllMusic)

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released October 7, 2008

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The Foreign Exchange North Carolina

theforeignexchangemusic.com

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