The Album Leaf
The Album Leaf's Jimmy LaValle talks 'A Chorus Of Storytellers,' picking a band and his favorite soundtracks.
If you’ll allow me to be so bold, I’m going to say that The Album Leaf made the prettiest music of the decade. The San Diego based former solo project of Jimmy LaValle has now turned into a full-fledged band that released A Chorus Of Storytellers in early February. Now six albums deep, The Album Leaf continue to work with some of the most powerful names in indie rock. Jimmy LaValle took some time out to chat with us about all the things that make The Album Leaf work.
HEAVE: Every band you were in before you started The Album Leaf was entirely different than what you are doing now. How did The Album Leaf come about with such a drastic change in genre?
Jimmy LaValle: For it was some sort of secret weapon. That would be the best way to explain it I guess. I had always been doing it, but it wasn’t anything known about it. To me it was the same type of music I had been doing since I was fifteen or sixteen years old – but everything else I was involved in was known, and this wasn’t even close to being the forefront of what I was doing.
HEAVE: Since then, you’ve worked with almost a “who’s who” of indie rock. What was it like to be surrounded by so much creativity while you, yourself, was still forming your sound?
Jimmy LaValle: You know, it’s cool. I think about that a lot. Just about the friends I’ve made throughout the years of working and bands I’ve been able to work with and that kind of stuff. It’s pretty awesome. I try to take something from everyone that I work with that I respect and try to translate it or work with it and utilize the tricks that I’ve learned from other people. Then I’ll try to involve them in whatever I’m doing and it’s a pretty nice feeling.
Really, for me, it’s just about having a friend – not really thinking about how this person does this and that’s crazy because he is my friend. It’s just like, “Hey – that guy is my friend.”
HEAVE: A Chorus of Storytellers is your first time featuring a full live band on the recording. What was that experience like for you?
Jimmy LaValle: It was good. It was really good. We had been playing together for so long. Everyone was pretty eager to work on this record. It was really natural. Everyone has really good ideas and we all work well together. We are all pretty good friends. It was kind of like being on tour. When we are on tour we have so much fun, so we tried to recreate that fun process in the studio. We were making a record and having some fun. The guy we work with in the studio Ryan is awesome, too. It’s just, really fun.
HEAVE: You sort of answered this already, but you worked with a ton of people throughout the years. How did you go about deciding who “made the cut” to help record the album? I picture some football-esque tryouts.
Jimmy LaValle: They were running laps and jumping through tires. It’s just sort of whatever makes sense at the time. It’s not something I totally think about when I make a record. It just all falls into place and seems to be a natural process. It just sort of happens. But I like the tryout idea.
HEAVE: Being a mostly instrumental band – how do you decide which songs are getting lyrics, which songs are sort of getting lyrics and what songs aren’t getting lyrics at all?
Jimmy LaValle: That is also something that just sort of presents itself in a way. Pall from The Black Heart Procession usually works on lyrics with me. I have some ideas on songs that think could work with lyrics, and Pall will have other ideas for other songs. It’s kind of a collaboration between the two of us. But there are sometimes I write a song with the vocal thing in mind – but for the most part it’s after the song is done and we think it’d be cool to add vocals. Songs that have a lot going on really don’t need it. They can speak for themselves. Other songs that are minimal might need some lyrics. Or songs that have a huge sound to them might need lyrics to make it even more powerful. It isn’t really thought out. It just sort of happens.
HEAVE: Lyrically, what is your inspiration?
Jimmy Lavalle: It’s directly from myself or things that are happening. Thoughts. Fantasies. Dreams. It’s really about having a bind with every song that I hear in my head. I’ll have like, one line, and we will base the song around that one line. We also want to make it meaningful to myself as a person and the things that are going on. They are pretty personal in a way – but I like to keep them equally abstract to give them a little more mystery so it’s not so black and white as to the song is about.
HEAVE: What’s your favorite soundtrack?
Jimmy LaValle: Oh, that is a really tough question.
HEAVE: If you are embarrassed to say it’s “Aladdin” then that’s fine.
Jimmy LaValle: Oh, it’s “The Lion King.” I love it. “No Country For Old Men” had an amazing soundtrack. “21 Grams” was another great one. That guy has done a lot of different movies and I really like his stuff. I’m a big fan of a lot of that Danny Elfman does. Some things more than others. “Edward Scissorhands” and “Pee Wee’s Big Adventure” were awesome.
HEAVE: Who is the best band today?
Jimmy LaValle: I have no idea, actually. There are a lot of good bands. There are a lot of bad bands. There is just a lot of music. Maybe Radiohead is the best.
HEAVE: Seems to be a safe answer.
Jimmy LaValle: Yeah, I was like, “Oh, duh. Radiohead.” I was a huge fan of Air for a long time. I think their last record is a little weird – but it seems someone like Radiohead can’t go wrong. The last Dirty Projectors record is awesome. The last Grizzly Bear record is awesome. Richard Swift is an amazing artist who is pretty unknown. Notwist is doing great things.
Posted by Wes Soltis on Feb 16, 2010 @ 10:00 am
