A Chorus Of Storytellers - The Album Leaf

A Chorus of Storytellers

The Album Leaf
Subpop Records.

SCQ Rating: 73%

I suppose I had this coming. With each previous Album Leaf review, I’ve knit-picked a shortlist of ways Jimmy Lavalle appeared content to continue churning out pretty and harmless electronic-tinged post-rock and, with Into the Blue Again, the San Diego-based songwriter seemed positively trapped by his own careful template. A wistful melody that elegantly curls itself, some tasteful live drums, a prominent use of violin and a boatload of electronic keys; that’s the Album Leaf stencil, ever-beautiful but increasingly streamlined from his younger days. If Lavalle planned to continue a career of this moniker, something had to give, and A Chorus Of Storytellers provides just that breeze to freshen Album Leaf’s stagnant vibe: a live band.

Now determining what Lavalle’s new entourage of musicians means, beyond a press-angle, is harder to decipher. Fellas like Matt Resovich and Drew Andrews have played on previous albums to lesser acclaim, while a track aptly named ‘Standstill’ purports the same template we’ve known and submitted to for the past decade, only this time less indebted to electronica. While it sounds redundant to claim The Album Leaf’s growth to a five-piece succeeds in making the project sound less isolated, that’s precisely what A Chorus of Storytellers accomplishes – a fully organic band playing to Jimmy Lavalle’s familiar fetters. After a surprisingly slow start, ‘There Is a Wind’ opens the record with a poignant highlight of majestic strings and deft percussion. It also showcases Lavalle’s improved vocals, which serviceably upgrade the forward-moving ‘We Are’ and the downhill side of the slope on ‘Almost There’. Vocal tracks aside, it wouldn’t be a promising addition to the Album Leaf canon without including a few slow-burners to contend with classics ‘Twentytwofourteen’ or ‘Into the Sea’. Earning their spot amid such peaks is ‘Until the Last’, an uplifting, orchestrated swoon of the Icelandic variety, and ‘Summer Fog’, which approaches the soundscapes of yesterday with a surprising post-classical touch. All that said, it should come as no surprise to read that A Chorus Of Storytellers’ songwriting quality shows no obvious boosts or declines from previous efforts, but the aesthetic direction alone will surely divide listeners. An odd laptop beat infrequently rises above the live-drums, on the crisp loop underscoring ‘Within Dreams’ or as the lazy breakbeat that trips up ‘Falling From the Sun’, but The Album Leaf’s electronic profile has diluted to the point of matching radio-rock bands like Incubus, who toss a peripheral scratch or beat in merely to stylize another genre.

On one hand, A Chorus of Storytellers and the Phase Two (or is that The Album Leaf 2.0?) it ushers in can be interpreted as a coming-out party for Lavalle’s long-celebrated introversion. These songs pound and swell with a human pulse and, while they parade the same melodic avenues as records’ past, one can feel a veil that once shrouded The Album Leaf being lifted. Of course, the other side of this outlook is that Lavalle badly needs that electronic veil and by discarding it, he’s losing the provocative details that forgave his occasional schmaltz. Even if I side with the latter group, a split decision with regards to Album Leaf’s die-hard, emblem-tattooed following is always welcome, not to mention a sign that The Album Leaf have at least a few surprises up their sleeve.

Into the Blue Again - The Album Leaf

Into the Blue Again

The Album Leaf
Subpop Records.

SCQ Rating: 72%

SCQ has a rather routine history of dealing with Album Leaf records; we politely blast them for failing to challenge us with anything semi-testing, than admit that it’s pretty and give it a gracious rating. Sure, Jimmy Lavalle isn’t out to reinvent the wheel – some might argue that he’s reshaped that same wheel several times over – but even so, titling your record Into the Blue Again is just an asshole move. Look Jimmy: we all understand that your previous outing, In a Safe Place, was your breakthrough; a collection of post-rock gems electronically refined and packaged in lovely blue artwork. Writing another album of similar melodies under the same formula (and with THAT title) should warrant the Album Leaf a failing grade in the creativity department. Yet here I go repeating history.

This is a solid follow-up, like-minded in tone and production but separate in its straight-forward approach to songwriting. Whereas In a Safe Place is famously noted for featuring the contribution of several Sigur Ros, Mum, Black Heart Procession and Amiina members, Into the Blue Again is a personal statement; a potential knee-jerk reaction to the attention gathered by such a communal crowd that finds Lavalle in charge of most instruments and production. He proves entirely capable of manning the boards alone, whether performing familiar rock-elegies like ‘Shine’ or attempting more modern-classical compositions with ‘Wishful Thinking’. Lavalle’s best work is still bordering on the indie-electronic side, which bolstered by Tel Aviv’s beats, results in the metropolitan rush of ‘Red Eye’ and the dew-sweet, emotional landscapes of ‘Broken Arrow’.

The downside to Lavalle going (almost) alone is that the variety once offered by his hired help is absent here, meaning we get an over-saturation of predictable Lavalle melodies and fewer sonic surprises. What has plagued my Album Leaf reviews in the past is ever-present here; that Into the Blue Again is beyond playing it safe. It’s lovely when it reaches that extra mile to be just that, but plain sterile the rest of the time. If this faceless quality to Album Leaf’s music has one universal benefit, it’s that you can contextualize it any way you see fit, and that said, I’ve spent a good deal of time with this record as contemplative background music. It’s an album worth revisiting during times of unrest but I’m stubborn in my belief that Lavalle is capable of an ambition greater than mere musak.

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.

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.