The Album Leaf
2015 is set to be a big year for The Album Leaf with a new album (his first since 2010’s A Chorus of Storytellers) and his first feature film score for ‘Spring’. The Album Leaf is the solo project of Jimmy LaValle, a San Diego-born, Los Angeles based songwriter who began recording solo material one year after forming the instrumental post-rock band Tristeza. Inspired by a number of genres – electronic, ambient, and 70’s psych-rock among them -- LaValle constructed his own songs in a similarly eclectic manner, utilizing everything from ambient noise to field recordings and samples. An Orchestrated Rise to Fall introduced the resulting sound in 1999. LaValle's second full-length album, One Day I'll Be on Time, was released by Tiger Style in March 2001. The Album Leaf's profile blossomed as a result of those recordings, and LaValle found himself opening shows for Sigur Ros around the world. By the time he began recording his third album, he'd also secured the services of Sigur Ros and their Icelandic studio. The resulting album, In a Safe Place, appeared on Sub Pop in June 2004. LaValle's next album, Into the Blue Again, followed in September 2006. The Album Leaf then toured extensively throughout the remainder of the decade, performing in multiple continents and opening for Gilberto Gil at the Hollywood Bowl in 2008. In 2009, LaValle started scoring documentaries and short films starting with Torey’s Distraction. Since then he has gone on to score 5 other shorts/documentaries with his first feature coming in 2015.
