Pitchfork

[Posted Monday, September 8th, 2003 03:00:00 Pitchfork Central Time]

So, back in July of the two-double-o-two, we reported that the first seven-inch in Better Looking Records' Album Leaf collaboration series was finally available following a five-month delay. In the meantime, Album Leaf mastermind Jimmy LaValle has been busy breaking up his other band, Tristeza, and befriending the lads from Sigur Rós-- prompting several tours, an open invitation to record at their studio in Iceland (remember, it's Greenland that's cold and Iceland that's green) and a promised future collaboration for said seven-inch series. Now it's a mere fifteen months later, and the second release in the series is finally (almost) ready.

Due before the end of the year, this time around finds LaValle teaming up with Marc Bianci of Her Space Holiday. Like the first collaboration (with Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes), Bianci will be contributing the vocals for LaValle's ambient instrumentation. According to Better Looking's website, they're hoping to stick to a more reliable release schedule come 2004, with future collaborations featuring Karla Shickele of Ida, Pall Jenkins of the Black Heart Procession and Sigur Rós' Jon Thor Birgisson. It also seems that LaValle is feeling expansive (not to mention optimistic), as Better Looking is hinting at possible additions to the series beyond the five planned releases. So it takes nearly two years to release two out of the five, and he's planning to add more? At this rate, he may have to release them Tupac-style, from beyond the grave!

The Jenkins and Birgisson collaborations may come easy, however, as the official Album Leaf site reports that LaValle is currently in Iceland recording his next full-length with members of both bands, as well as ex-members of Múm and (supposedly) current members of Amina. According to an July interview with LaValle in the Las Vegas Mercury, he met Sigur Rós in 2001 when they invited him out on tour, and he's been traveling with them and looking for an excuse to get to Iceland to record ever since. "Just from them playing with me through the tours, and putting their touch on my stuff, we work really well together," says LaValle. "There haven't really been any plans for [the album]. I just want to go out there with six or seven good ideas, and have the rest just happen." Following the recording of the (as yet untitled) album, he's headed back to the states to relax in typical rock star fashion-- by playing a show. (Yes, we just called Jimmy LaValle a rock star.) The Album Leaf website promises more tour dates in 2004, but this is it for the moment:

10-18 New York, NY - Mercury Lounge

Never one to rest on his laurels, LaValle has also recently recorded a five-song Album Leaf EP, Seal Beach, for Spanish label Acuarela Records. Due out in October, the release is part of a series of exclusive mini-albums recorded for Acuarela, with future releases on deck from The Decemberists, Early Day Miners, and Tarentel. The tracklist:

01 Malmö
02 Brennivin
03 Seal Beach
04 Christiansands
05 One Minute