Autumn Leaf Dance were a band from Upstate New York. Like most college bands, they were short-lived, active from 1993 to 1994. They never toured, and according to their bio wrote only twelve songs, eight of which were recorded for their only release, Learn What Is Taught. The dates on the album confirm it was recorded in 1994, but the metadata from the files of the band's archive website say the record was released in 1995, so I'm choosing to accept that as fact. A couple notable projects came out from ex-members of the band, The Douglas Fir and Sky Flying By.
Musically, Autumn Leaf Dance were closer to first wave emo than the second wave that was cresting at that time; think a slightly more melodic version of Still Life or Portraits of Past's less emocore-based tracks, or maybe a less melodic version of Junction. The songs are moody and distorted but rarely aggressive or catchy, though there are some sporadic exceptions. Some of that comes down to the female vocalist, who never deploys any hardcore vocals, but don't mistake this band for something like early Rainer Maria—they just don't have that kind of pop instinct in their makeup. This is slow emo, but emo nonetheless.
