Minimalistic yet Dramatically Beautiful

Jimmy LaValle, famously known as The Album Leaf, has returned with a new LP entitled Future Falling. During his hiatus, he has created music for soundtracks of various motion pictures, including Synchronic, 3022 and Something in the Dirt. Future Falling feels like an immersive experience that takes the listener through numerous soundscapes. It has a much darker quality than his past works, which was an unforeseen yet refreshing change.

The “Prologue” of this album starts off very simple, with repeated pitches being played on a buzzy synth. Some dimension is added to the piece as these pitches are panned from ear to ear, creating a sense of wideness. As the piece progresses, more instruments are added and the tone of the piece shifts from simple to dramatic, with loud, brassy chords that are held out and choppy white noise sounds in the background. 

The third track, “Afterglow” featuring Kimbra was a pleasant change of pace with unexpected vocals. The track begins with a muffled drum beat followed by smooth and soft chords. Kimbra’s resonant vocals blend with the instruments seamlessly and add to the melancholy quality of this record as she sings, “You want a reason for the way I left/I know, I know/Why did we grow far apart and fall like dominoes?”

“Breathe” is one of the most minimalistic yet interesting pieces on Future Falling, with the same repeated piano melody being played for the entire duration of the track. As the track develops, more and more different sounds and harmonies are layered over the melody. This track has a very angelic feel and sound quality, with reverberant and revolving chords heard throughout. What sounds like raindrops are heard in the background as well, which really helps absorb the listener into this soundscape.

While some of the sounds and instruments heard on “Near” featuring Bat for Lashes were compelling, the track felt a bit too similar to “Afterglow.” Perhaps part of the reason for this is because Bat for Lashes and Kimbra have a similar vocal quality and range, but it would’ve been nice to hear a completely different type of groove for this track since it is the only other track that contains vocals. 

Overall, Future Falling is an extremely riveting and engaging listening experience. There are plenty of intriguing sounds heard throughout this album that blended together impressively well. Even though LaValle took a minimalistic approach when creating this album, the layering of different sounds and instruments with simplistic melodies established a great sense of development and texture, which was a very effective way of setting the dark tone for this LP. Future Falling was certainly worth its long-awaited arrival and it is exciting to see how The Album Leaf will continue to grow and experiment with his sound.