The Album Leaf in concert is a five-piece, multi-instrumental electronic collective, while behind the scenes, it is James LaValle, himself a talented multi-instrumentalist. LaValle’s meandering sound is beautiful: experimental electronica, pinging and bumping in all the right ways, creating nothing so much as an ambience for living. Live, the five-piece serves up a masterful blend of soaring melodies and steady beats, delivered by mostly traditional instruments (including a violin), and a video screen, projecting randomness.
Photos by Lee Floyd of The Album Leaf performing at Diesel in Pittsburgh, PA on May 17, 2007.
From the sound of the opening track "The Light" on The Album Leaf's new, album Into the Blue Again, it would be forgivable to expect a sort of reigned in Sigur Ros. But when track two rolls around, listeners are instead greeted with a dark electropop offering vaguely reminiscent of Pedro the Lion.
