ARTiST: The Album Leaf
TiTLE: Into The Blue Again
LABEL: Subpop
GENRE: Indie
TiME: 52:34 min
SiZE: 81,0 MB
BiTRATE: VBRkbps
RiP DATE: Aug-30-2006
RELEASE DATE: Sep-12-2006
WEBSiTE: n/a
Track List:
01. The Light 04:29
02. Always For You 05:07
03. Shine 05:53
04. Writings On The Wall 04:55
05. Red-Eye 07:02
06. See In You 04:37
07. Into The Sea 04:32
08. Wherever I Go 04:38
09. Wishful Thinking 05:32
10. Broken Arrow 05:49
Release Notes:
Previous rip was a webrip... Here's the proper
advance. Enjoy! :)
Life as a traveling musician can become monotonous.
Sleep, eat, perform. Load in, load out, pass out.
Repeat. This is your day, and before you realize it,
your life. After a decade of the three-step grind
James LaValleùthe classically trained
multi-instrumentalist whose tone poems have been
collated as The Album Leaf since 1999ùdecided to get
off the well-worn path.
ôA lot of traveling and time away from home,
learning about yourself while losing yourself,
thatÆs what has gone into recording for me,ö says
LaValle. ôFollowing a year-and-a-half of straight
touring I took a break from worrying only about
where The Album Leaf was going and instead
concentrated on the best parts of what itÆs been
this entire time.ö
If musicians could keep time in a bottle its
consumption would likely outpace vodka and bourbon
combined within the first year. Next to a
comfortable place to sleep, time is the luxury few
touring musicians are afforded. Time alone is even
more rare. Following stints with instrumental
artisans Tristeza, post-hardcore spastics the
Locust, contorted punk-funk ritualists GoGoGo
Airheart, shadowy conjurers The Black Heart
Procession and is often a special guest of IcelandÆs
celestial menagerie Sigur R≤s, LaValle recognizes
this lifestyle and its constraints.
Bottled up on the road long enough, LaValle felt the
timing was right to give it a go from a different
angle. Using time bought by the success of his Sub
Pop debut, 2004Æs In a Safe Place (which saw songs
as the soundtrack to six episodes of The OC, and
stints with CBS, NBC and Showtime). LaValle
sequestered himself for six months in his San Diego
house solely to write. This upswing of downtime
resulted in his fourth full-length, Into the Blue
Again.
At the core of The Album Leaf (named for a Chopin
piece) has always been LaValleÆs melodic daydreams
personified. But while 2004Æs In a Safe Place
featured embellishments from members of Sigur R≤s
and Amina (the Sigur R≤s string section), Into the
Blue Again sees a return to The Album LeafÆs
conception and LaValle handling virtually all of the
instrumental duties. LaValleÆs few collaborators on
Into the Blue Again are Josh Eutis of Telefon Tel
Aviv, who aided additional drum programming and
engineering on choice songs, The Black Heart
ProcessionÆs Pall Jenkins adding vocal harmonies on
"Wherever I Go," violinist Matt Resovich (who
performs with The Album Leaf live, and also played
on In a Safe Place), Drew Andrews adding additional
guitar work on select songs (Drew also performs with
The Album Leaf live) and Brigir Jon Birgisson,
ôBiggi,ö engineer at Sigur R≤sÆ Sundlaugin studio.
Sundlaugin, also the studio used for In a Safe
Place, is a former swimming pool turned into a
primarily analogue recording facility. This
contoured, textural environment lends itself well to
LaValleÆs lustrous, resounding palette. Wanting to
employ his own equipment (not possible on the last
record, recorded wholly in Iceland), LaValle loaded
up a van and held his initial three-week tracking
session with Ryan Hadlock at appropriately earthy
Bear Creek Studio, a converted turn-of-the-century
barn isolated outside Seattle. LaValle then took the
concentric billows of feathered keyboards, filmy
strings and chiseled drums to Iceland for three
weeks of mixing to tape to maintain Brian
Eno-informed translucence.
ôRough warmth, thatÆs a good description,ö says
Birgisson of LaValleÆs intonation on Into the Blue
Again. ôThe goal was to make sure youÆre not
overproducing to keep things live, organic and
intimate.ö
ôI like drones and keeping notes intact,ö admits
LaValle. ôA lot of times songs become written around
a sound I feel is important and should not be
forgotten. But I anchor them in a verse-chorus-verse
structure. It helps focus the melodies.ö
Indeed, personal focus has been LaValleÆs primary
objective with Into the Blue Again. The albumÆs 10
tracks exhibit an elegant, ascendant assurance
informed by LaValleÆs more settled relationships at
home. While still delivering the placidity of a
track such as album opener ôThe Light,ö LaValle has
composed even more corporeal, insistent cuts such as
ôShineö and ôRed-Eye.ö Into the Blue Again also
showcases LaValleÆs increasingly confident, buoyant
vocals striking heightened presence on unfeigned
selections ôAlways for You,ö ôWritings on the Wallö
and ôWherever I Go.ö There is a greater sense of
both the ôIö and eye in the way LaValle lays out the
topography of his pivotal past and makes it
universally palpable.
ôThe Album Leaf is my little solo endeavor, my
little toy,ö says LaValle in summation. ôItÆs
something to keep you happy when youÆre alone and
frustrated, and sometimes frustrating in itself when
it doesnÆt do exactly what you want. But still
something fascinating.ö
Having shared so much time and space with others on
the road, LaValle proves with the personally charged
Into the Blue Again that The Album Leaf resonates
most profoundly when he goes it alone.
Look for The Album Leaf's gorgeous live show (it
includes a large touring entourage involving
projection art and live strings) in upcoming tours!