The Album Leaf stream “New Soul”

The Album Leaf streams single "New Soul", with a new album expected to be released in 2016

Having recently completed the follow up to 2010’s A Chorus of Storytellers on Sub Pop Records, The Album Leaf’s new album is set for release in 2016. This marks another shift in the evolution of the project’s sound. Marked by warm, electronically laced full band instrumentation and notable vocal work, the new single “New Soul” is an early glimpse into the world of the new album.

“I wanted to experiment with my vocals,” LaVelle says about the song. “I’ve never been fully comfortable with the inconsistencies of my voice. I’m not a singer, I just choose to sing sometimes. I wanted to keep the honesty and not think about it too much. Lyrically, the song is about moving forward, getting out of your comfort zone.”

The video for “New Soul” was directed by Michael Raines, who has previously worked with the band on the 2014 tour documentary “Beyond There”, and the award winning cinematographer is Mike Simpson (who has made videos for Alt-J, Lil’ Wayne, Solange and David Byrne). “We had little resources,” LaValle explains, “So we spent a weekend in Joshua Tree desert with friends and family contributing to the making of this video and I’m amazed with the result.”

Raines elaborates: “We never had a conversation about the song’s meaning or intentions, and Jimmy gave me a great deal of freedom when it came to creating the concept. Listening to “New Soul”, I looked to the films of Larisa Sheptiko, American Westerns, and more specifically, a scene from Béla Tarr’s Satantango (which I blatantly ripped off). My hope was to make something that alluded to a larger narrative, as if the video was a slice of a feature film. I wanted to make something that felt expansive, like the song itself, but ultimately let the viewer decide who this women was and whether it was a story about death, rebirth, or both.”

The Album Leaf will be playing All Tomorrow’s Parties curated by Jake and Dinos Chapman in late November, where the 2004 LP In a Safe Place will be performed in its entirety.

The Album Leaf started as the solo project of Jimmy LaValle, a San Diego-born, Los Angeles-based songwriter who began recording material one year after forming the instrumental post-rock band Tristeza. Inspired by a number of genres — electronic, ambient, traditional latin and ’70s psych-rock among them — LaValle constructed his own songs in a similarly eclectic manner, utilizing everything from ambient noise to field recordings and samples. An Orchestrated Rise to Fall introduced the resulting sound in 1999.

Live Dates

November 13, 2015 – San Diego Music Thing @ The Casbah – San Diego, CA
November 14, 2015 – Backstage Bar – Las Vegas, NV
November 18, 2015 – Workmans Club – Dublin, Ireland
November 19, 2015 – Roisin Dubh – Galway, Ireland
November 20, 2015 – Cyprus Avenue – Cork, Ireland
November 22, 2015 – Brudenell Social Club – Leeds, UK
November 23, 2015 – The Deaf Institute – Manchester, UK
November 24, 2015 – The Lantern Colston Hall – Bristol, UK
November 26, 2015 – Union Chapel – London, UK
November 27 – 29, 2015 – All Tomorrow’s Parties @ Pontins, Prestatyn Holiday Centre – North Wales, UK

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