Claude says:Jimmy LaValle started The Album Leaf in San Diego in 1998 as a solo detour from his post-rock band Tristeza, building spare electronic pieces around Rhodes piano and drum machines. This record layers synthesizers and soft pulses into something quietly hypnotic — closer to ambient pop than the instrumental rock he cut his teeth on. You picked it up last month and haven't put it down since, looping through "Floating," "Intertwine," and the title track like they're soundtracking the same long, weightless evening.