It's been a few years since prolific musician Jimmy Lavalle left San Diego for Santa Cruz, eventually settling in Los Angeles with his wife and two children. With an international following, the band The Album Leaf has always done San Diego proud, and Lavalle has always been a unique musician and composer. He's not one to boast about his projects, which have included Tristeza, the Crimson Curse and GoGoGo Airheart, among others.
This week, Jerik Centeno, a musician (Small Culture) who also does sound and mixing, shared a #humblebrag to Facebook: “Mixed the score with the Album Leaf that Jimmy LaValle composed for the film '3022'! Directed by John Suits, it stars Omar Epps, Kate Walsh and Miranda Cosgrove!”
"3022" was actually released in November 2019, but it's back in the metaphoric water-cooler conversations because it was released on Netflix in late March, just as people were settling into stay-at-home orders and making sure Netflix queues were maximized. The movie follows astronauts on a 10-year mission who discover that while in space, Earth suffered an extinction event. In other words, the perfect movie for the atmospheric soundscapes for which Lavalle is best-known.
“There are an abundance of crazy new sounds I’ve never heard in my life and tons of feelings that really make you ponder your existence," Centeno continued. "To pump out a score for a feature film at the quality and level that Jimmy's score is at is bonkers –– film scoring at its finest.”
When asked about the score, Lavalle texted, "Scored '3022' in two weeks. It was one of six films I did in a year and a half. 'Synchronic,' starring Anthony Mackie and Jamie Dornan, directed by Justin Benson (also from San Diego) and Aaron Moorehead, our third film together, premiered at TIFF this year. [It was] supposed to hit theaters in June, pushed back now, obviously." That score will be released via Milan records, a Sony subsidiary.
As a film, "3022" may have only garnered a 39 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, but the score itself makes this movie worth the watch. Or at the very least, an intense listen.
Will we be hearing more from Lavalle anytime soon?
"Plenty coming," Lavalle texted. "So much coming…. I do have new Album Leaf music coming, too."
We can hardly wait.
