The Album Leaf (Jimmy LaValle) has announced Future Falling, his first new record in seven years. Since releasing 2016’s Between Waves, LaValle has focused primarily on scoring films and writing soundscapes for the app Calm. Future Falling, which is mixed by Joshua Eustis, will be out in May and features collabs with Kimbra and Bat For Lashes. Today, we get to hear his track with Natasha Khan, “Near.”

“I had sent Natasha a song I was working on to see if she’d be up collaborating,” LaValle says of “Near,” adding: “We spent an afternoon in my studio while she sang a handful of ideas over the piece. I took those ideas and created something new inspired by her vocal. I really wanted to create something to support the dreamlike narrative she was painting. It was all very natural.”

Khan adds: “We worked organically, I was building vocals over Jimmy’s music; playing with melodies and words… he then took it away and sculpted it into what became ‘Near.’ The imagery was of going deep into a dark forest with a small glimmer of safety, something precious and secret. Sort of an ambient fairytale. It was very spontaneous and fun to improvise.”

Of the album as a whole, LaValle opens up:

During the pandemic, I created new music almost daily. I had amassed a daunting amount of new material that I felt connected with, that it almost acted more like a road block. I experimented with a lot of audio manipulating, learning new tricks and staying true to my love of analogue synthesizers. I finally settled on a collection of songs, and after second-guessing all of them, I reached out to multiple friends and collaborators to contribute. With those contributions, I was able to craft a record that represents both the time I spend alone discovering and creating while keeping the collaborative spirit that I have always been inspired by.

Listen to “Near” below.

TRACKLIST:
01 “Prologue”
02 “Dust Collects”
03 “Afterglow” Feat. Kimbra
04 “Breathe”
05 “Future Falling”
06 “Cycles”
07 “Give In” 
08 “Stride” 
09 “Near” Feat. Bat For Lashes
10 “Epilogue”

Future Falling will be out 5/5 via Nettwerk.