Seal Beach EP - The Album Leaf

Seal Beach EP

The Album Leaf
Acuarela Records.

SCQ Rating: 66%

Released less than a year prior to In a Safe Place, the Seal Beach EP afforded Jimmy Lavalle the timely stop-gap opportunity to explore the limits of his ambient side. Focusing on subtler structures, this five-song set remains closer to instrumental electronica but offers us The Album Leaf at its most intimately hushed. The simple meditation of opening duo ‘Malmo’ and ‘Brenniven’, with carefully laid beats and twinkling keyboard, exhibit a euphoric setting for mood music – a setting that flows uninterrupted here. Into the title track, Lavalle refines his focus further, as its shifting tones are as soft on the ear as, and reminiscent of, your favourite morning pillow. This is a weekday wake-up record; a brief but warm set to bring you peace on days you’d rather stay in bed.

As with any Album Leaf release, you won’t find many challenging moments, and unlike any past album, you’ll have trouble finding a single note one could consider confrontational. This calm collection might turn off fans who follow The Album Leaf for his post-rock tendencies, but what makes the Seal Beach EP an interesting listen is hearing how graceful Lavalle’s work can be when he’s not singing. Each song has to convey emotion without his lyrics to guide us along, and like the best of his material from later albums In a Safe Place and Into the Blue Again, its lack of vocals is the greatest strength of this material. As listeners, we’re able to lose our thoughts in the music and even manage to forget, on occasion, that it’s The Album Leaf at all. That’s as close to ambient as Lavalle can hope for.