Jimmy LaValle and crew return from 2007's tour-only The Enchanted Hill ep with a new full length, A Chorus Of Storytellers, out on Sub Pop. This time out, LaValle's recording approach has changed some. While again recording with Sigur Ros engineer Birgir Jon Birgisson in Iceland, Lavalle broke course and allowed the entire band in on the recording process. The result is, well, just another Album Leaf? record. While not an entirely bad thing, he certainly isn't breaking any new ground here. Here lie all the crucial components: subtle canned drums popping under lush, yet rather minimal, melodies, all awash in sad atmosphere and melancholia. Then, occasionally, Lavalle's vocals (mixed a bit higher this time around) come floating in to offer a glimmer of hope in all this sadness, as in Chorus'... single Falling From The Sun. Just like he did on Always For You. And On Your Way. It would have been refreshing to hear him put the band itself to better, or, more creative use inside the studio. Here, LaValle has simply re-packaged 2006's Into The Blue Again.