ALBUM REVIEW: SONIA LEIGH - SONGS ABOUT GHOSTS

Due to a slight communications hiccup this album got to #TEAMw21 about two months later than it should have, the real mystery though is why every reviewer has not been shouting from the rooftops about this record so loud that we could hear them. Sonia and #TEAMw21 go way back, one abiding memory is from an early Buckle & Boots, where she'd already played a storming set during the day, rumour has it she was then serenading campers until 04:00. The next morning sporting a pair of dark sunglasses, she was a little less boisterous, but as ever ultra polite, as she picked up her merch. She then gave us an enormous hug, thanked us for selling her stuff and slowly headed off for a train to London to do her thing at the next venue. It's been a few years since we crossed paths, but with a UK August tour coming up and this cracking album to plug, what better time could there be?

The cover may be almost sepia, but the picture of Sonia sat on the step of presumably her family home does not look old. Accompanied by just her guitar, it makes for a most poignant moment, and while you should never judge a book by its cover, just by looking at this one, it gives the impression that the contents to be found within will be heartfelt, personal and special, as will prove to be the case. It is all of that and a myriad of musical styles, some of which will no doubt surprise, in a collection that is quite possibly her best to date!

Opening with "Heaven's Got A Hand" the initial moments are just percussion, a drum machine and a bongo maybe! Now here at #TEAMw21 we are not big fans of electronica, but the drum beat and weird keyboard riff that arrives later, are the only other sounds apart from Sonia's acoustic guitar - and somehow it works.

The album is full of reflections, relationships, and returning home, this seems to be Sonia pondering choices made, faith and ultimately her own mortality.

"I can hear it all around me when the train comes through

Singing Heaven's got a hand, with a hold on you

Fall to the bottom where there ain't no blue

Yeah the devil's got a plan for the whole thing too"

"Praying to the stars on a shaky knee

Never knowing what you want only knowing what you need

Wash your hands a thousand times but the blood still bleeds

Cos the pounding in your chest won't set your body free"

"No we can't understand it and we don't know why

It's a constant calling everybody's got a time

When I make my way to the other side

I hope I still hear the train in the dead of night"

It's hypnotic, the almost tribal drum beat, the robotic keyboard riff mixed with Sonia's resigned forlorn vocal make for a unsettling start - is it a clue for what is to come, well lyrically yes but musically most definitely no!

The second track "Never Stopped", sees Sonia transform into a classic soul diva, fronting the smoothest of grooves complete with backing singers, who you can imagine doing a little dance routine as they sing, there's even a trumpet solo.

It's a tale of reflection, the one that got away, that you can't quite get to terms with

"I got a ghost following me everywhere I go

Yeah I've got a memory, a place and time can't shake it no"

It comes with that unanswerable question - are they feeling the same? Sonia poses it in the most tender of deliveries, the feelings are etched into every inch of this song.

"So if you ever wonder, the way I do - no I've not forgotten you"

The chorus is the sweetest soul sound

"Never stopped thinking about you, my love, after all this time

You're still on my mind"

It is a personal song, with Sonia admitting she's travelled the world, made many subsequent relationships, yet this one remains intensely special.

Don't think at any point that you can second guess this record, The "Road That Leads To Nowhere" is Sonia's hometown song, a staple of any Americana writer. It is probably closer in sound to what you might expect from Sonia, with a big guitar intro, yet once more she is to be found in a reflective mood.

"Well some say, it's a dead end, there's not much there to praise

Just a Mum and Pop, a couple of red lights

In the town where I was raised

We never had a shopping mall, a big highway

Everybody seemed satisfied

Drinking by the river on a Friday night"

These songs predominantly fall into the, "had to escape my small town" category, however here Sonia is in reminiscing and paints a touching portrait of where she grew up.

"On The Road Less Travelled, nobody goes there

Time moves slower than anywhere else

There's love in the eyes, care in the hands

At the end of the road that leads to nowhere"

The bridge makes clear, the driving force off the song, and possibly the whole record,

"It's the life I left behind

On the day they laid my Mama in the ground

But today I loaded up and headed down"

It's a majestic anthem and easily sits among Sonia's finest compositions.

Changing pace once again, "Last String Of The Thrill" is a slow power ballad, with a rich organ sound, screeching guitar sounds. It captures the final moments of what has, by all accounts been, a most exhilarating night.

"Woke up in the middle of a bad dream

Head swinging just like a bell

Siren singing don't go

Baby don't go there."

Picking up the pace "Figure 8 Find" is a beautiful love song wrapped up with a lovely jangly guitar sound. It's the most perfect sound and is the most endearingly beautiful love song you could ever wish to hear.

"Montana" a co write with Niko Moon, is built upon an impressive opening drum rhythm, it immediately picks up on one of the recurring themes of the album - getting home.

"Winter wind chilling my bones, sun ain't shined all week

Six more miles to the nearest town I can't feel my feet

Got a keep on moving - moving till I make it home"

This return though is not without its issues

And I don't know how to right my wrongs

I've got to face the life I left behind

I hope I'll be forgiven, for giving up on love

I can't keep Montana off my mind"

There's a rich organ sound, which gives this song a gospel feel, something enhanced further when a small choir of backing vocals appears

"I've been running in the streets too long

I've been running from a love gone wrong

Started drinking just to carry on

But it carried me a little to far away"

Finishing with the swish of ice cubes rattling in a glass

"Devil May Care" is an all out rocking introduction, before settling into a bluesy rhythm. It is Sonia's vocals at their rawest and again is one of those confessional encounters, that litter the album.

"I'm not here to cause a scene

I just want to tell you one last time just what you mean to me"

The chorus sees Sonia adopt two vocal styles, the first an almost strangled vocal, the other unusually high.

"I came to let you know, I never let you go

I had to let you know, I never let you go"

It's a melting pot of musical styles, and the final verse, as Sonia seeks her ex is powerful stuff.

In contrast comes the gently strumming guitar opening to " Ladder To the Moon", which is initially another total shift in mood. The band are subtly added into the mix building the overall sound gradually. The razor edge singing of the previous track is replaced, with a more considered, heartfelt vocal - at least until the chorus where Sonia all but pleads

Got some nails and a hammer

Gonna build you a ladder

To the moon

When the pale light shatters

All of these shadows

I wanna see you, I wanna see you, I wanna see you

Can't stop myself from touching you

I don't wanna stop myself

From touching, touching you

Finishing with just Sonia and her guitar, it's another smouldering classic on an album that almost catches alight it is so hot!

"Safe Enough To Run" is a piano ballad, in fact the piano is the only instrument that appears. It sees one of the most touching moments of the record, as Sonia watches on.

"She's dancing in the kitchen, getting all the words wrong

And it's so beautiful, to hear her sing along

And I've been dying, to kill this pain inside

God knows I'm trying, to find the reasons why"

The threat of despair is another feature to be found throughout the album, even when things seem to be going well.

"Darkness settles in, even when, I'm staring down a rising sun

Am I broken to no man?, tell me when

I finally found a place that's safe enough to run"

The latter verses are equally touching, the simplicity of the performance makes this tension between happiness and worry, all the more palpable.

"This Too Shall Pass" is a stirring anthem, pounding pianos, a heavy back beat, and crowds cheering, it's thrilling but the opening verse, once again finds Sonia disturbed.

"I'm standing on the edge, at the end of a line

With the weight of the world on my shoulders

I've been sleeping with the lights on, alone in the night

The memories and dreams repeating over and over"

It is only on the chorus that she is able to escape and pronounce

"This too shall pass away" with an air of defiance.

Alabama Bound closes the album, a southern groove, that moseys on to the end of the record in some style.

It finds

"I don't know how but I just keep going

Time keeps moving like the Mississippi rolling

It don't slow down for a music maker going

To the next town but right now

It's easy riding on memory lane - Alabama bound"

The final verse may well sum up the whole album

"They say there's nothing like home sweet home

And you don't know what you've got til' it's gone

I've been lost on the wind rambling

But I'm headed back again I can't believe that it's been so long"

A stunning collection showing Sonia at her absolute best. Lyrically she is undoubtedly bearing her soul throughout the record while musically, she takes us in a number of bold directions. It deserves a listen and a place in your hearts and come the end of year lists, this is one that will surely be crying out to be included.