May 22, 2001 - One Day I'll Be On Time

A week after my last release and just under two years since their debut album "An Orchestrated Rise To Fall" (though just a mere month and a half since their EP "In An Off White Room"), The Album Leaf released their second album "One Day I'll Be On Time" on May 22, 2001. Jimmy LaValle continues to write post-rock music with this album being a more complete work with better recording quality and production. Jimmy also has a friend helping out, with Rafter Roberts doing all the drum programming and helping with the production. Let's listen to a whole new album of Album Leaf!

Things begin with "Gust Of..." and LaValle plays a long droning note in the background, and then some nice light guitar overtop. A different guitar part comes in as well and things sound very smooth and silky. I believe there's a third guitar part that eventually joins as well and though things are quiet with just the guitars Jimmy mixes these several parts together really well and it sounds solid. This sums up the whole five-plus minute song, which is probably a little too long, but it's a smooth way to take off. Up next is "The MP" and it's much more involved with LaValle playing some bass to start us off and Roberts providing his first electronic drum beat, and it's a solid drum beat even though it's not played by a human. LaValle leads the way on piano with a cool backing riff and then he adds some nice lead piano overtop as well and tbings sound pretty space-y and post-rock goodness. More piano and other trippy noises are added to the mix and once it's all going it's a pretty cool mix. After several minutes some guitar finally joins the cacophony of instruments ae have going on and this all sounds way better than their first album as it's mixed really well so that you hear all the little things that are going on. The ending sounds really trippy and then we're onto track 3 "Story Board" where we hear Jimmy and Rafter talking to each other at the start before Jimmy starts up a pretty cool main guitar riff that is fairly fast and has him hitting lots of notes and I think it sounds pretty good! There's some additional sounds and effects added to the background, but this whole song is largely just this guitar riff until LaValle adds some cool piano as well. He finally switches it up with some slower guitar to finish things off and along with the piano things sound pretty good, a nice way to close it out. The next track is "Wet The Day" and it's got a trippy, wavy noise that keeps fluttering the whole time in the background and LaValle plays some slow but epic piano to lead the way and I love all the lows and highs he goes through with some nice piano. This pretty much sums up this whole song and like the opener it's probably a little too long at over five minutes, but it's still pretty cool. Track 5 is "The Audio Pool" and it's got a catchy drum beat along with LaValle playing several different keyboards. Everything sounds very light and space-y and all the keyboards sound cool overlayed on top of one another. This sums up the whole song pretty much, but I like how the music just comes like Waves with a new riff wqshing over you. Up next is "Hang Over" and it's kind of the same idea as the last song, but on guitar! LaValle plays several different light riffs and overlays them all together and things sound pretty space-y and chill. The mood is gloomier and slower on this one and it's not one of my favourites, but it's still a decent little post-rock tune. Track 7 is "In Between Lines" and LaValle starts it off with a catchy and echo-y guitar riff that sounds pretty cool, then Roberts adds a decent electronic drum beat. LaValle plays another cool guitar riff that blends nicely with everything so far, and then one by one new keyboard riffs get added to the mix until there is so much going on! It all sounds pretty cool! This is one of my favourites off the album and I love how Jimmy expertly mixes all these different parts into one fluid and cohesive song. Well done! The next track is "Last Time Here" and it's super space-y and dreamy and psychedelic with all kinds of weird noises to start us off. A quiet guitar riff emerges from the noise and then a pretty cool keyboard riff takes the lead, all while the trippiness remains in the background and things sound pretty cool. This goes on for the whole song, but things sound crazy and cool enough that it all passes very smoothly. Track 9 is "Asleep" and LaValle leads the way with a cool piano riff and Roberts adds another catchy drum beat. LaValle adds a few more keyboard parts to the mix and things sound pretty smooth for so much happening, it's a solid mix of light keyboards that combine for an interesting song. After several minutes of light jamming they hit reset and go back to just the opening piano riff and build it all back up again. A cool little tune! Up next is "The Sailor" and similar to their track "Glisten", there is the sound of rain in the background of this whole song. LaValle comes in with some super slow keyboards that sound space-y and cool and we hear other noises mixed into the background. There's a low keyboard riff and a high one and LaValle plays them beautifully off each other for some long, droning parts that sound pretty cool and very post-rock. This is a song that could put you to sleep in the right mood, but there's cool stuff going on if you let yourself go. Track 11 is "Vermillion" and it's driven by an interesting keyboard riff that sounds pretty catchy and LaValle also adds some nice light piano, as well as some r&b-like beats and scratches that add another interesting layer to things. This all combines for a pretty cool main riff and LaValle mixes up all these different parts very nicely together, and even harmonizes parts of them at times, just to show he's in full control of all this cool stuff going on. There's so much going on that I don't mind at all that they jam this out for the whole near six minutes. The last song on the album is "Glimmer" and it has LaValle playing some slow guitar with lots of sudden starts and stops and also some indiscernible talking in the background the whole time, like a TV on in the distance and that doesn't really add anything. The guitar is definitely interesting and non-traditional because it's so jagged and seems to jut in, but also somehow roll smoothly out. And that pretty much sums up this one, it's a quiet way to wrap things up.

That is the end of "One Day I'll Be On Time" and I thought it was a cool album for sure. I thought it was a definite improvement on their debut album "An Orchestrated Rise To Fall" with lots of catchy songs and Jimmy LaValle layering and mixing all his studded really nicely. I look forward to seeing where The Album Leaf goes from here!