Music Review: Leerone puts forth honest debut, no one notices

2/13/08

By Matt Vercillo
Critic Staff

My editor pulled a mysterious black envelope from his bag and tossed it into my lap. “That’s for you,” he said. I opened it, inside was a bright packet of promotional information containing a compact disc. “Imaginary Biographies” by an artist called Leerone.

I had not asked for anything like this, and at first I was confused. Slowly I began to put the pieces together. In a conversation the day before, I had expressed some interest in doing a column with some music or entertainment reviews.

According to my editor, this package had come in the mail addressed to The Critic one day over the summer without notice, leaving the perfect opportunity for a review.

The envelope had been opened, but all the contents inside lay undisturbed. Fumbling through all the glossy pamphlets and stickers included with the CD, I came across what seemed to be a description of the music. Completely unfamiliar with Leerone’s work, I began reading it.

It was a good thing I wasn’t assigned to review the promotional material, it almost stopped me from listening. Immediately I was weary of the snappy buzzwords and hip rhetoric being used, seemingly overcompensating for a lack of musical quality.

Pretentious sentences like: “A cohesive mélange of mod British pop, pianissimo balladry, rococo classicisms, minimalist Euro-rock, soul-melting love songs, top-hatted show tunes, haunting musique noir and German opera of the Threepenny sort.” were strewn across the pages like the vomit of a public relations executive. Thankfully, these descriptions turned out to be even less accurate then they were cohesive.

By this time I was salivating with cruel anticipation of how bad the album probably was, and how ruthless I could be reviewing it with no conceivable consequences. I was getting ahead of myself, and realizing this I put the materials back into their envelope.

I agreed to do the review.

In spite of my initial reactions to the gaudy packaging, I decided to be objective, even if they had spelled music with a “Q”.

Listening to it, I was immediately a bit disappointed. It wasn’t bad. A flip though the liner notes revealed some background information on what I was hearing.

Leerone turned out to be the name of the multi-talented songstress responsible for “Imaginary Biographies.” A Las Angeles based artist that not only penned the entire album, but performs the lead vocals, piano, and synthesizer work as well.

For her debut album, Leerone puts forth an array of original material ranging from bright piano-driven pop tunes to sullen, more introspective compositions. However, the majority of material would fall into the latter category. For the most part, the mood of the album is low-key, subdued, and at times deliciously eerie. Aided by a haunting string-section for a large portion of the album, her wispy vocals seemingly float along a serene musical portrait.

Leerone’s competent lyricism and piano work amount to some sort of an intriguing mixture of Ben Folds and Tori Amos, with little bits of Leslie Feist thrown around for flavor.

All and all the music is listenable. The album is one that may not command a second look, but certainly would benefit from one. Though not necessarily the type of thing I would be inclined to listen to on a daily basis, I can easily imagine the songs fitting into a movie soundtrack or driving a hip new ad-campaign for Apple Computers.

Certainly worth checking out if you happen to find it in the used bin or on a friend’s computer, but not necessarily the type of thing to bend over backwards to find.

Leerone’s website is www.leerone.com, but I found her myspace page had been updated more recently. www.myspace.com/mynameisleerone is a good place to go if this sounds like the kind of music that you’re into. There you can also check out some audio clips of her music.