Jimmy LaValle is a composer who uses synthesizers and effects to create a nuanced palette of textures and dense, evocative atmospheres. His music defies easy categorization, with a style that creates soothing melodies, highlighted by jolts of unexpected dissonance. While drawing inspiration from minimalist composers and sound manipulators like Max Richter and Cliff Martinez, LaValle has developed his own unique method of decorating a film’s sonic space.

His soundtrack work includes Joanna Sokolowski and Kate Trumbull-LaValle’s Ovarian Psycos, PJ Raval’s Before You Know It and The Endless and Spring, both directed by Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead. These award winning films have played successfully at many festivals, including the Toronto International, TriBeca, SXSW, Hot Docs, Fantastic Fest, Seattle, Edinburgh, Los Angeles and San Francisco and on PBS' Independent Lens.

“I compose music to compliment the tone of a film,” LaValle says. “The focus is on constructing a mood, using silence as another instrument. I like a dark, melancholic, uplifting quality, which is not as contradictory as it sounds. I find an exclusive aural approach for each film to help it create its own environment, its own world - a cohesive structure that aligns with the director’s vision.” LaValle has been composing and playing challenging instrumental music with his band, The Album Leaf, since 1999. He continues to explore the unlimited horizons of sound and composition with his film soundtracks.