Nashville based singer/ songwriter Leilani has been getting much acclaim via a succession of singles and support slots with the likes of Lita Ford and Dead Daisies. Her debut album is a showcase for her prodigious song-writing skills, great voice and guitar playing. Opener High/ Low opens with a Glitter stomp which suits me just fine. The groove on this is pure early 70s and it’s an earworm you don’t forget. Back To You grooves in next. It’s nicely understated, but catchy, and immediately singles out Leilani as a real talent because her vocals are so different to the first track and so is the song. She has a lot of facets to her voice and her guitar. The swamp flavoured Blues of Spanish Moss has nods to Little Feat at their best and is another cracker of a song. Early Grave (surprisingly from the title) fills the ballad role. But it has attitude and style galore and this heartfelt vocal might be her best on the album.
The precision riffing of Creepin’ says crowd clap-along and sing-along and the Glitter is back! It swaggers and pouts and gladdens the heart of this aging glam rocker. Seriously this is a great song! A great switch next for the buzzing riffs of Burn (the de facto title track from the lyrics). It’s really good and Leilani’s solo is sublime. Can’t Take It Back is different again with an AOR feel to it, albeit with some lived-in rougher edges. Wish You Were Dead is a big dramatic banger of a song, big on, well, everything. It’s a mini soap opera in song and utterly compelling. I See Stars is a brooding big finish to the album with a throbbing bass and Leilani at her sweet honeyed best, her voice soothing and soaring.
I can’t stop listening to this astoundingly fabulous album. I got it as a streaming review copy and I just had to go and buy a copy from her website – www.leilanikilgore.com – which is where you can get the album from. She signed my copy as well! I ended up buying her first recording too – the equally highly recommended The Devil You Know.
Leilani is great, the band are great and this is easily one of my albums of the year. I hope she comes to the UK, because on this evidence she will be terrific live too.