Into the Blue Again

"Throughout the disc, LaValle crafts soundscapes that demand attention through their subtleties."
- Urb (8/10)

"Shows LaValle exploring new and exciting sonic territory with positive results."
- Alternative Press (8/10)

"This really is pretty music."
- Lost At Sea (9/10)

"It's beauty is familiar and intimate."
- Prefix Magazine

San Diego's James LaValle is The Album Leaf. 'Into The Blue' is his 4th album, following '04s 'In A Safe Place', which was very warmly received by critics internationally - Simon Sweetman labelling it his favourite album of 2004!

A former member of shadowy conjurors The Black Heart Procession and Iceland's celestial mentalists Sigur Ros, LaValle recorded 'Into The Blue' in a converted turn-of-the-century barn outside of Seattle, before taking the resulting billows of feathered keyboards, filmic strings and chiselled drums to Iceland for mixing to a Brian Eno-like translucence.

'Into The Blue' marks a return to The Album Leaf's conception, with LaValle handling the bulk of the vocal and instrumental duties himself - while also charting a glorious progression from his earlier, critically admired, work.

LaValle has proved, with the personally charged and intimately informed 'Into The Blue Again' that The Album Leaf resonates most profoundly when he goes it alone.