Ambient Electronic Artist THE ALBUM LEAF Drop Rework Of Classic Track “Storyboard”      　

Tomorrow, prestigious ambient electronic project The Album Leaf will share, “Storyboard (JMJL Rework),” the next single off of his new LP, One Day XX, out September 17, 2021. The record is a 20th-anniversary edition rework of their career-launching record, One Day I’ll Be On Time.  For the album, The Album Leaf creator Jimmy LaValle brought in longtime collaborator James McAlister (Taylor Swift, Sufjan Stevens, The National) and members of his live band to help re-imagine every arrangement with what he knows now as a composer and performer, celebrating the songs from a different vantage, with technical prowess and the emotional clarity that time and distance can afford.

When asked about “Storyboard” Jimmy explained, “The charm of the original recording of Storyboard was the rawness. At the time, I had no confidence in getting a good acoustic guitar sound, so Rafter Roberts set me up in his empty warehouse with the doors wide open, mic’s placed around the room and wanted me to check out the sound he got, I replied that I’d just play the song and come listen after. The ambience of the empty concrete room I recorded in, next to a freeway with all the doors wide open created a great mood to the original recording. I definitely wanted to pay homage to how we had recorded the song. I set up outside on the deck next to my studio, while the birds sung and decided to live-stream while I recorded my guitar. I left my take as is and sent it over to James who added beautiful counter melodies that fit in like they were always there. Patrick Heaney also mixed this song so it would build perfectly to that uplifting end moment. The end result hopefully comes off just as honest as when I first recorded it, I hope these updated elements will present as solid rework while paying homage to that raw, spontaneous original recording.”

LISTEN & SHARE “STORYBOARD (JMJL REWORK)” NOW

In 2001, One Day I’ll Be On Time propelled The Album Leaf from Jimmy LaValle’s part-time solo project to a full-fledged live band touring with Sigur Rós (whose lead singer Jónsi just happened to stumble upon in it a record store in Iceland). LaValle, who came up in the late ‘90s San Diego music scene playing in hardcore bands and as a founding member of instrumental rock band Tristeza, found himself at a crossroads with his commitments. After receiving a modest label advance for a solo project, he created a self-recording starter setup, building out the sound with occasional studio access from his day job at a jingle house. The music that emerged — vivid, rhythmic, soaring instrumentals guided by lines of guitar and Rhodes — not only set the path for The Album Leaf over the next two decades of acclaimed releases (for Sub Pop, City Slang, and others), it became a touchstone for the next generation’s wave of melodic and meditative electro-organic music.

Stay tuned for more to come from The Album Leaf.