The Album Leaf - Lines in a Leaf (2025) [Hi-Res]

Between the demise of screamo first-wavers Swing Kids and the rise of post-rock mainstays Tristeza, Jimmy LaValle could be found tinkering in his bedroom four track studio at 2145 E St. in San Diego. Six lo-fi soundscapes emerged from hundreds of hours of jamming alone in his headphones, eventually making their way via demo cassette to Tiger Style co-founder Mike Treff in 1998.

"I had known Jimmy from hardcore—Locust, Crimson Curse, Swing Kids, and Guyver-One were absolutely some of my favorite bands," Treff said. "When I heard these recordings I was floored. The compositions, the range, the intensity achieved without distortion or extreme volume was just mind blowing. The Album Leaf's music synthesized a love of lo-fi, field recordings, and the instrumental stuff coming out of Chicago and Louisville, but he was doing it with a directness that seemed to come from hardcore."

The Album Leaf's An Orchestrated Rise To Fall debuted the following year and this tape became buried in the many moves of a storied career. We unearthed and rediscovered as part of our recent partnership with NYC's Tiger Style Records last year and it totally blew us away. We've now restored and assembled here for the first time The Album Leaf's earliest sketches. Half a dozen cinematic meditations born from late night longing and early adulthood blues.

Tracklist:
1-1 The Album Leaf - 2145 E St. [6:49]
1-2 The Album Leaf - Hill of Gold [4:54]
1-3 The Album Leaf - Fire to Fire [4:13]
1-4 The Album Leaf - Writing in the Sand [4:16]
1-5 The Album Leaf - Knots in a String of Beads [5:02]
1-6 The Album Leaf - A Crumpled Piece of Paper, Slowly Unfolding [6:06]