June 22, 2004 - In A Safe Place

A week after my last release, a year since their last EP "Seal Beach", and three years since their last album "One Day I'll Be On Time", The Album Leaf released their third album "In A Safe Place" on June 22, 2004. Jimmy LaValle is still playing post-rock, but for the first time he has a lot of people helping him out! This album was recorded at Sigur Ros's home studio and several members of Sigur Ros contribute on this album with guitars, keyboards, drums and even strings! It was also The Album Leaf's breakthrough as a couple songs were featured in popular T.V. series. Let's see what the latest from Jimmy has to offer!

The album begins with "Window" and it has some super light and dreamy keyboards in the background while more distorted keyboard riff takes the very slow lead. It's alright but fairly bland for the first couple minutes, then some strings and other trippy noises join the light fray to spice up the rest of the song a little bit, but it's an extremely light opener. The end flows right into "Thule" which starts with a decent light drum beat that keeps the pace throughout this song. LaValle takes the lead with some nice piano and it's really nice to have a real drummer instead of electronic drums. Eventually some bass and strings join the mix to give things a fuller, more solid vibe as the main piano riff continues to sound good leading the way. They quiet things right down which makes the return to the main riff sound decently epic and the strings do a wonderful job of adding another coop layer to things. This was a very smooth and pretty cool post-rock tune! Track 3 is "On Your Way" and LaValle starts into a slow, echo-y main guitar riff and we have some electronic drums on this one like the Album Leaf of old, and even though I like real drums better this beat is decently catchy and interesting and compliments the light main riff nicely. For the first time we hear Jimmy do lead vocals and his voice isn't anything too special in my opinion, but it sounds okay overtop this smooth main riff that has now several different pianos and keyboards mixed in. This song is pretty radio-friendly but I don't think I really like vocals with my Album Leaf, they didn't really add much for me. The next track is "Twentytwofourteen" and LaValle plays some slow, loud piano that sounds pretty epic all by itself. Then comes in some bells (or perhaps a xylophone) with some light but cool little extra bits to add another layer to things. Drums are the next layer as some light cymbals enter the mix, then a catchy beat, then some trippy and cool percussion that is almost like turntables! I think it sounds pretty cool and once it's going full swing and there's now some epic violin overtop of everything else this is one very involved and pretty cool song! From just piano to all this going on, but the piano is still there playing some cool stuff, very nicely built up! They shift gears for the final 1:12 or so with everything stopping and shifting suddenly to just piano and some very loud strings. It's an interesting shift that I'm not sure goes together great, but it's a decent sort still and overall still a cool song. Track 5 is "The Outer Banks" and LaValle drives this one with a simple but nice light piano riff and there's a fast electronic drumbeat with some trippy skipping and fading involved that keeps you on the edge of your seat. The bell xylophone is back and all manner of strings join in and they certainly make things sound pretty epic and once some cool light guitar is thrown in as well there is a lot going on, and it all sounds pretty cool! Just like the last song they do an excellent job of building it up piece by piece and the climax is some pretty trippy and cool stuff! They quiet it right down for a nice epic finish and this is definitely one of my favourites off this album. Up next is "Over The Pond" and LaValle plays a slow piano riff to keep the slow pace. There are vocals on this song, but it's a quiet, almost muffled voice in the background and then a high voice takes the lead that I don't believe is Jimmy (must be a Sigur Ros member). Jimmy joins in with a third set of vocals in a more neutral tone and things sound decently smooth, but it's very repetitive with not enough going on for most of the song. Almost three and a half minutes in some strings join in and the super low cello sounds pretty epic. It's not a bad song by any means, but it's a lesser one for me. Track 7 is "Another Day (Revised)" and it starts with some droning, slightly trippy keyboards before LaValle comes in with some cool lead piano and another electronic yet catchy drum beat. The piano is epic and pretty solid the whole way through, this drum beat is fast and pretty cool, and once he strings and other keyboards enter things sound even more full, more epic, and pretty cool if you ask me. The end nicely trails off and we hear someone say "damn it Jimmy" followed by LaValle mumbling a bit in this cool behind the scenes look at this one. The next track is "Streamside" and they dive right into two different guitar riffs: one slower rhythm riff and a faster lead riff that is light but pretty solid. They keep overlaying more guitars until I'm not sure how many we're hearing at once but Jimmy makes it all sound ridiculously smooth. Once the violin and cello join in things somehow get even smoother and they named this song pretty perfectly as it seems like the backdrop for beautiful forest scene with a peaceful picnic by a smooth running stream of water. This is obviously not being nominated for song of the year, or even best on the album, but LaValle absolutely nails this vibe perfectly and I think he did a great job on this one. Track 9 is the album's big hit single "Eastern Glow" and it starts with some simple electronic drums to keep the beat before LaValle takes the lead with a slow but epic lead piano riff. LaValle sings for the second time and he sounds much smoother and much better on this one, singing a slow verse that fits the mood very nicely. He's playing some cool piano in the verse as well and between verses we get some pretty epic strings that really add a cool extra layer to things. I can see why this was a successful single: it's still Album Leaf, but it's definitely more accessible with these better vocals from Jimmy. After two long rounds we switch nicely to real drums with a cool new beat and the final long verse is louder and a little more epic! I don't think Album Leaf should sing very much, but this is definitely an exception, a well done tune! The final song on the album is "Moss Mountain Town" and Jimmy plays some light, music box-esque keyboards before some long, droning strings come in. Things eventually get louder and a little  more epic but this is a pretty laid-back and chill way to close things out. The song ends around the 3:28 mark but it's listed at 9:22! After less than a minute of silence a light new riff hangs in the background with one faster acoustic riff and one slower one. Then we hear multiple people yelling out a verse together like we're at a campfire and it sounds alright but nothing memorable by any means and a weird, (way way too) long way to close out this post-rock album.

That is the end of "In A Safe Place" and I thought it was a pretty cool album for the most part by The Album Leaf. There were a couple vocal attempts that weren't that great, but the single was a good one and there were several really unique and interesting songs. I think the good definitely outweighs the bits of bad and it's easily better than their debut "An Orchestrated Rise to Fall". Their last album "One Day I'll Be On Time" was also a pretty good in it's own way, but I like the more complete sound with Jimmy getting lots of help and I think that makes this album their best yet! Can Jimmy continue to up his game? I'll be here to find out!