I used to be a Secondary school teacher and for this review I’m going to employ a technique used for marking delicate youngsters’ creative works – ‘2 stars and a wish’. Only since Luke Leighfield isn’t an 11 year old child, it might more accurately in this instance be titled 2 stars, a bit of a telling off and a wish:
Star 1: Luke, you are clearly a hard worker. You write, record and distribute your own records, tour relentlessly and continuously come up with new, cute and interesting merchandise. You obviously have talent on this front and all credit to you for putting a lot of thought into innovative ways of making physical releases more marketable.
Star 2: There are small moments to enjoy buried in this record – the last minute of ‘Whispering’, the slow build of ‘Do Not Settle’, the chorus at the end of ‘The One Thing’ to name a few. Without these sparks I may not have wanted to write what I will below, but they demonstrate that there is hope for you and something to build upon moving forward.
And now for the wish(es)…
Luke, large amounts of this album are horribly contrived and unoriginal. Some of those 11 year old ex-students wrote significantly more novel lyrics than I can find here. Such clunky stock phrases as “you’ll need a bucket for all those tears”, “this too shall pass”, “love like the expanse of the ocean,” have no place outside embarrassing pre-teen attempts at poetry.
Likewise with the composition, each heavy piano phrase and blast of the horns is exactly where I’m expecting it to be. There are 5 upbeat songs and 5 slower ones. Exactly as I’m expecting there to be. Maybe some people find that comforting. I find it dull and uninspired. For someone who works so hard at getting your music out there, this feels lazy and self-satisfied.
The bottom line here, Luke, is that I don’t believe you. I don’t believe you’ve felt these emotions of love and spirituality that abound in every song, any more than I believe Katy Perry kissed a girl. It’s all too clean and polished and therefore insincere.
So, here’s your homework – get out of your comfort zone. Every time you write a lyric that sounds like it comes from ‘The Secret’, scribble it out and try again. And listen to some artists taking chances, see what you can learn. I heard you like Ben Folds Five? They were never more interesting than when they were juxtaposing style and content to jolt their listeners e.g. Twinkly Twenties style piano under “Give me my money back, you bitch!” on ‘Song For The Dumped’.
You don’t have to go so overboard on every single track to convey emotion. For instance, Tellison’s ‘Freud Links The Teeth and The Heart’ is incredibly simple, lyrically and melodically, but beautifully so. Simple not simplistic and to hear Stephen H Davidson sing it live is to have your heart broken. I believe him. Frank Turner writes numerous songs full of bumper-sticker sentiments, but they’re twisted up, turned on their head, sung with a knowing wink. And when he’s sweating and spitting them out over the microphone, I believe him. Watch a live recording of Frightened Rabbit’s ‘Poke’ and tell me you don’t believe Scott Hutchinson had his heart ripped to shreds. Then sit down and listen to ‘It’s You’ and feel what’s missing from your own work.
You have all the technicalities down, Luke, but if you want to stick around as a credible artist, you need to find the genuine heart in your music and for that you’re going to have to get a bit uncomfortable. Good luck.
Released March 26 through Stargazer
Posted by Katy Cousins
