In A Safe Place - The Album Leaf

In a Safe Place

The Album Leaf
Subpop Records.

SCQ Rating: 77%

On paper, this record sounds like a shoe-in classic: ex-Tristeza guitarist takes his already popular Album Leaf moniker to Iceland, moves in with Sigur Ros, records in their expansive swimming-pool studio and enlists the band, along with members of Mum, Black Heart Procession and Amiina, to help craft his album. Amalgamating these bands is a sure-fire way of accurately guessing the sound of In a Safe Place, and while it is consistently pretty, it’s rarely challenging.

Jimmy Lavalle’s muse, as broad as it may be, must be beauty. He’s remarkably adept at presenting an aural scene of serenity, romance, or solitude through compositions that scream for cinematic accompaniment. There are exceptions to every rule, and while I feel strange saying it, I completely believe you can judge this album by its cover. The tapestry of blues which adorn In a Safe Place’s sleeves, shaded and carved into stone walls, is eye-catching in a way that initially appears unique, but is ultimately safe. It is this paradox that stakes The Album Leaf’s music: how can an album, with each song compelling, result in being somehow shrug-worthy?

With enough awe-inspired moments on In a Safe Place to mostly ward off that question, this is certainly The Album Leaf’s high-water mark. Unlike One Day I Will Be On Time, Lavalle keeps every track memorable, refusing to let his romantic flourishes fade into blandness. And unlike the airborne beauty of Seal Beach EP, In a Safe Place creates its own musical landscape, one obviously very reminiscent of a certain northern country of pixies and glacier-metaphors, but true to its inspiration nonetheless.

It has been two years since I first heard ‘Window’ and it’s still a hair-raiser, ushering the album with subtle keyboard shifts and strings that sweep over the listener like those first steps off a plane, or that first wake-up in a foreign land. From Sigur-frontman Jon Birgisson providing beautiful vocals to ‘Over the Pond’ to the acoustic lament of ‘Streamside’; each is a lullaby emotionally-crafted for any conceivable cinematic melodrama. Truthfully, film and television would be better off with it. That Lavalle bothers taking vocal-duties at all may show dedication to his art, but inevitably spotlights the two tracks most likely to be skipped over.

So until these lush songs get picked up by TV execs, new and old fans alike can relish in mainstream’s negligence of this ear-catching, melodic album; the perfect soundtrack to discovering life, mile by mile.