Jimmy LaValle is back with new music as the Album Leaf. Future Falling is set to be released on May 5 via Nettwerk, nearly seven years after the musician's last full-length project, 2016's Between Waves.
LaValle says that although his focus was mainly on scoring films during that gap between albums, he was still making music as the Album Leaf behind the scenes: "During the pandemic, I created new music almost daily. I had amassed a daunting amount of new material that I felt connected with, that it almost acted more like a roadblock. I experimented with a lot of audio manipulating, learning new tricks and staying true to my love of analogue synthesizers," he said.
"I finally settled on a collection of songs, and after second-guessing all of them, I reached out to multiple friends and collaborators to contribute," LaValle continued. "With those contributions, I was able to craft a record that represents both the time I spend alone discovering and creating while keeping the collaborative spirit that I have always been inspired by."
The first singles from the 10-track Future Falling were the title track, which came out in October, and January's "Breathe." Now, he's followed it up with a mesmerizingly melancholic single, the Bat for Lashes collaboration "Near."
"We worked organically, I was building vocals over Jimmy's music; playing with melodies and words... he then took it away and sculpted it into what became 'Near,'" said Bats for Lashes. "The imagery was of going deep into a dark forest with a small glimmer of safety, something precious and secret. Sort of an ambient fairytale. It was very spontaneous and fun to improvise."
Listen to "Near" below, where you can also see the album's tracklisting.
Future Falling:
1. Prologue
2. Dust Collects
3. Afterglow feat. Kimbra
4. Breathe
5. Future Falling
6. Cycles
7. Give In
8. Stride
9. Near feat. Bat for Lashes
10. Epilogue
LaValle says that although his focus was mainly on scoring films during that gap between albums, he was still making music as the Album Leaf behind the scenes: "During the pandemic, I created new music almost daily. I had amassed a daunting amount of new material that I felt connected with, that it almost acted more like a roadblock. I experimented with a lot of audio manipulating, learning new tricks and staying true to my love of analogue synthesizers," he said.
"I finally settled on a collection of songs, and after second-guessing all of them, I reached out to multiple friends and collaborators to contribute," LaValle continued. "With those contributions, I was able to craft a record that represents both the time I spend alone discovering and creating while keeping the collaborative spirit that I have always been inspired by."
The first singles from the 10-track Future Falling were the title track, which came out in October, and January's "Breathe." Now, he's followed it up with a mesmerizingly melancholic single, the Bat for Lashes collaboration "Near."
"We worked organically, I was building vocals over Jimmy's music; playing with melodies and words... he then took it away and sculpted it into what became 'Near,'" said Bats for Lashes. "The imagery was of going deep into a dark forest with a small glimmer of safety, something precious and secret. Sort of an ambient fairytale. It was very spontaneous and fun to improvise."
Listen to "Near" below, where you can also see the album's tracklisting.
Future Falling:
1. Prologue
2. Dust Collects
3. Afterglow feat. Kimbra
4. Breathe
5. Future Falling
6. Cycles
7. Give In
8. Stride
9. Near feat. Bat for Lashes
10. Epilogue