Album Leaf
(Sub Pop)
Nobody wants their music described as aural wallpaper -- unless you're Eno and that's your po-mo art statement. But too many musicians working the chill-out ambient music field wind up as the hipster-set equivalent of New Age elevator music. Thankfully, Jimmy LaValle, the composing mastermind behind The Album Leaf, has not been one of them. Since launching as a solo enterprise 10 years ago, the former Tristeza/Locust/Black Heart Procession member has consistently delivered evocative ambient textures, seamlessly blending chop-shop processing and synth wizardry with organic beats and melodies - from that standpoint, his latest continues a strong tradition of layering keys, synths and guitars with big beats (processed or organic) into complex textures that still come across as pop songs.
But artists need to grow or risk becoming self-parodies, and even LaValle admitted to a bad case of writer's block after 2006's Into the Blue Again as well as the need to somehow shake things up. To that end, LaValle recorded with the full Album Leaf band in tow for the first time, and sings more here than ever before (vocals on four of 11 songs). But it's questionable whether that worked, since A Chorus of Storytellers sounds much like the last two Album Leaf records. There's always been a dreamy, cinematic quality to LaValle's compositions, and there are the usual Album Leaf songs that drift past like hazy summer days ("Blank Pages," "Summer Fog"), or lonely ones like "Perro" and "Tied Knots" that recall barren, wintry landscapes - both kinds occasionally get the glitch treatment for variety.
LaValle's former BHP band-member and not-so-secret-weapon, violinist Matt Resovich, elevates every song he's on with his aching laments and soaring accompaniment, and the rest of the band deliver as well. But the results are much the same, the differences minimal enough to be missed if you're not paying close attention. That's not always a bad thing, since few do this blend as prettily as LaValle. But that creeping sense of repeating himself is also palpable.
Standout Tracks: "Blank Pages" "Tied Knots" JOHN SCHACHT
