After last week's chaotic and frenzied look at the MySpace world of Thomas Truax, we’ve decided to knock it back a few notches this week and explore some music which we here at hecklerspray believe is at least some of the following: cool, chilled and relaxing.
Oh yes, it’s all good stuff. Believe us when we say this. We mean it. For this week, we look at The Album Leaf. The Album Leaf (named after the composer Chopin, fact fans!) is otherwise known as Jimmy Lavalle, who hails from San Diego, California. Despite living in a city where the pace of life can overtake you, Lavalle has expertly crafted up some of the finest melodies and ambiance that our ears have had the pleasure of hearing. And we’ve heard a lot. Trust us.
Right we kind of know what you’re going to say to us. Firstly, after you’ve listened to all of the tracks on The Album Leaf’s page, you'll say “Where have I heard that track before? I don’t own/ haven’t illegally downloaded anything by him” Lucky that you’ve got us reliable chaps at hecklerspray to help you. Chances are you've heard The Album Leaf played to death on one of our favourite shows -until it gets cancelled, at least – The OC. You know The OC; it’s just like Saved By The Bell, only more glamorous and packaged better. And with Jim Robinson from Neighbours instead of Mr Belding.
Anyway, The Album Leaf’s music has been used a fair bit on this particular show, particularly the track On Your Way, which is one of the four tracks available on The Album Leaf's MySpace page. As the warm melodies swirl around, Lavalle’s voice crackles and flows around the room, creating a track that could be used on the soundtrack to any break-up film. This particular track is one of the few with vocals. Lavalle has previously been quoted as feeling to nervous about using his own voice to sing. Thankfully, he changed his mind.
Secondly, you’re all probably thinking, “You’ve made a mistake, this Jimmy Lavalle guy can’t do all this on his own!" Sadly, you're wrong. Everything that you hear is done by the man himself. As a classically trained musician, he certainly is a very skilled tradesman when it comes to producing music. As far as when we can tell, the drums, piano, keyboard and guitar are just a few of his many talents. And, yes, before anyone asks, it would be near impossible for him to do all this live, so a few individuals are taken with him whenever he takes his masterpieces on the road. Hopefully this won’t be too soon, as a new album by The Album Leaf, entitled Into The Blue Again, has just been completed and is due for release on September 16.
To keep us all happy and probably to try and prevent us from illegally downloading inferior-sounding copies of the finished product, one track from Into The Blue Again has been posted on MySpace. Called Red Eye, it's an instrumental which has a very minimal edge and feel to its beginning before the piano is taken over by simple but effective drumbeat. More splashes of piano are poured over the top and this creates a musical recipe that wouldn’t go amiss in the background of any trendy nightclub, or even just in the surroundings of your own home.
There are tracks on The Album Leaf’s MySpace page that chart just a little bit of his career. As already mentioned, there is a track ready for us to listen to from the anticipated new album Into the Blue, along with On Your Way from his previous work In A Safe Place and other tracks from 2003’s Seal Beach EP and a semi-exclusive live version of Micro Melodies which was only previously available on the Red Tour EP. Both of these other tracks equally deserve your attention.
On the last count, 123,053 different people have visited The Album Leaf’s MySpace page, and he has 16,284 friends. Go on, boost those numbers and give a musician with unspeakable talent a little more exposure. And if that wasn't enough, for your viewing pleasure is the video for On Your Way which features lots of cute little monster creature things. Aww.
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[story by Matthew Laidlow]