To get a sense of what's new with the upcoming album from Jimmy Lavalle and his band The Album Leaf you only need to look at the title: A Chorus of Storytellers (Sub Pop). After a decade (and four fine albums) of the San Diego composer/multi-instrumentalist's singular D.I.Y. process of holing up in a studio and creating music on his own, Chorus signals a group effort at work -- and, as Lavalle serving as "conductor" -- an entirely new perspective and approach. "I wanted to name it according to what happened with the whole process," he explains. "It took two-and-a-half, close to three years to make. There were so many different things that went into it and there's a lot of storytelling behind it."

The result is yet another outstanding album of cinematic, often instrumentally-focused music that fuses ambient electronica with floating indie pop dreamscapes, progressive themes of exceptional scope and vision but without a hint of pompous pretense. Tracks such as the stagger-stepped rhythmic instrumental "Stand Still", rich with a ringing keyboard/guitar riff and delicate synth washings, and the finely tuned, sweeping vocal track "Falling From the Sun" herald an album of big, ambitious ideas executed with elegant style and remarkable musicianship. Highly recommended.

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The Album Leaf - "Stand Still" (from the album A Chorus of Storytellers)

The Album Leaf - "Falling From the Sun" (from the album A Chorus of Storytellers)