Breathe is a deeply sentimental, sparse piano based cut which finds influential Los Angeles-based electronic artist, The Album Leaf, beginning the new year by paying tribute to those who have recently passed on. Breathe is a highly poignant and personal single which, owing to its simplicity, exudes a great deal of emotion.
The Album Leaf's Jimmy LaValle explains: “When I created Breathe, it was not about death or loss. But over the time period of finishing it, I’ve lost some close friends and family. Some died of cancer or of COVID, and some took their own life. I started to think about what kind of mindset or headspace you might find yourself in before that moment. What do you do? The thought came from a friend who took his life, he and I collaborated on a still unreleased meditative song, he sent me his raw vocal stem, and within it, he took deep, deep breaths. Not around his words but during the breaks. I can’t imagine how he felt in his last moments, but his deep breaths in that performance gave me hope that in his last moments, he found some sort of inner peace with his choice, and I imagine he took those deep, deep breaths before ending his life.
“In memory of Josh Stoddard, Gabe Serbian, Matt Hoyt, Bruce Byrd, Mark Waters, Richard Swift, Tim Reece, and Ray Espinoza.”
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