The Album Leaf

A Chorus of Storytellers

February 2, 2010

Yay! A new Album Leaf cd. Every time Jimmy LaValle decides to release another one of his post-rock ambience overloaded albums, I rejoice a little bit. Back in the day, way back in the day actually, Brandon, in his never-ending cd buying quest, stumbled across a little disc entitled ‘An Orchestrated Rise to Fall’. You’ve probably read about this cd from me on this very website. AORtF will easily go down in history as one my all-time fav’s. Officially released in 1999, this album was loaded with acoustic/electric guitars, piano’s, simple drums, and a little bit of voice recordings  and background everyday sounds throw in for good measure. This is an ultimate rainy day type of cd where you sit next to a window and read a book, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve done so back in Georgia where it actually rained.

Skip a couple years and LaValle releases ‘One Day I’ll Be on Time’. This cd and a huge tour with post-rock gods Sigur Ros threw The Album Leaf somewhat into the mainstream. Myself and the Bear attended one of these shows in Atlanta, and were overjoyed at the awesomeness of it. I personally enjoyed The Album Leaf more, but I’ve always been quite a fan boy of them. Sigur Ros was great and all, but I liked the simplicity of TAL’s set better. We also got to see TAL in a much more intimate setting at The Earl in Atlanta. This show was after the release of The Seal Beach ep and before the release of the In a Safe Place full-length. Awesome awesome show that was.

After One Day I’ll Be on Time and The Seal Beach ep The Album Leaf started on a road that I didn’t particularly enjoy. Adding vocals to the mix didn’t really sit well with me, also Jimmy started to stray farther away from the acoustic guitar which was my main attraction to the first couple of TAL cd’s. ‘In a Safe Place’ and ‘Into the Blue Again’ seemed much more electronic to me and I missed the rawness of Rise to Fall and One Day, and that was when The Album Leaf and I started to go our separate ways. Of course I bought all the cd’s and releases, I just didn’t like them all too much.

It’s 2010, a new decade and the first listen of the year for me. A Chorus of Storytellers is LaValle’s first recording with a full band, always previously recording every instrument himself. Even though Jimmy allows others to play the music on this disc, it is still an Album Leaf cd,  easily recognizable and distinct. This time around LaValle didn’t include near as many vocals, which is a big plus for me, thing is I really wouldn’t mind singing if it were just better. I understand LaValle wanting to venture out and try new stuff and how he enjoys singing, but it just seems to not go with the music as well. I don’t know if it were a female singer I’d like it better? Probably, and I just simply don’t like folky, indie type singy music that these songs fit into. I like Damien Rice-esque sorrowful and desperate lyrics, sad music. Fortunately on this disc, the somewhat ’down’ songs LaValle decides not to sing in, big plus.  A Chorus of Storytellers is a cd much unlike TAL’s previous two releases, but I must say that I like this one better for some reason, the instrumental songs are better and slower, and more like music to me. The first song on the cd entitled “Perro” has voice recordings in the background that hearken back to the days of Rise to Fall, which is oh so lovely. Another plus is that these songs flow much better than on any previous Album Leaf cd. This cd also has more of a One Day I’ll Be on Time feel to it, which is of course my second favorite TAL cd. In conclusion, if you ask me, this disc has a lot going for it, will it propel LaValle into the likes of Sigur Ros and Bright Eyes and all that jazz? Definitely not. I don’t know if that’s what Jimmy is trying for, but to me it seems a likely no, I think he just wants to keep making music he likes, not for the masses, and not for the radio, but something that fits ever so well in the background of just about anything. And I think that’s where Mr. LaValle likes being, in the background, yet ever apparent and undoubtedly there. [3.5/5]