THE ALBUM LEAF, TERRAFORMATION
PLUSH
Monday, July 27
Tucson said goodbye to Terraformation on Monday night at Plush.
Mohadev, Ben DeGain’s key collaborator in the desert Tortoise-like
project, is off to seek his fortune in Austin.
But Terraformation made many new fans at the show anyway. A
Saturday-night-sized crowd had gathered to see Sub Pop artists and
headliners the Album Leaf, and the two bands were an inspired
pairing—both demonstrating how much power and emotion can be
conveyed at midtempo and midvolume, with intelligence, musical chops
and a wide-open mind about the fuzzy divide between conventional music
and the sounds of our lives.
Those who just discovered, or have not yet discovered,
Terraformation’s music need not despair. It may no longer be possible
to catch the band in its regular sets at the Red Room, but its February
2009 release, Darkness Among Stars, can be downloaded, for free,
at bendegain.com. And we can be
sure that pan-instrumentalist DeGain will be heard from in another
atmospheric project very soon.
While Terraformation made a fantastic impression, all the star power
at Plush belonged to Jimmy LaValle and the Album Leaf. The early
influence and support of Sigur Rós, plus 10 years of recording
and touring behind his uniquely powerful and generally uplifting
compositions, proved out in LaValle’s command of the room, not to
mention the intricate interplay of the arrangements and his cast of
multitalented musicians with their masses of inscrutable gizmos. Hardly
a conversation was heard anywhere in the venue, as the crowd hugged the
stage in rapt attention.
LaValle told the crowd he was en route to Phoenix to master a new
record, set for a February 2010 release. This is great news for fans
who haven’t had new Album Leaf music since 2006’s Into the Blue
Again. Just three songs from that release were included in the set,
including “Always for You,” which was played in the encore along with
“Vermillion,” from the 2001 One Day I’ll Be on Time, and “On
Your Way,” from the 2004 In a Safe Place.
The rest of the Album Leaf material was new, most songs featuring a
violin as a central character, and at least two incorporating subtle
doses of hip-hop and dance beats. After 10 years, La Valle’s vision
continues to shift and evolve with power, intelligence and grace.
This article appears in Jul 30 – Aug 5, 2009.
