Listening to Adrienne Leasa recalls some of the best of the late eighties/early nineties artists like Jane Siberry, Concrete Blonde and Suzanne Vega but not in a retro way, rather in a way that precedes the effects of Lilith Fair where the fact of being a female singer/songwriter was incidental and innovation, guts and mood were what distinguished one artist from another. Leasa’s compelling debut “For God’s Sake” rushes in like the release of a lot of pent up energy suddenly being released on the open road on an adventure to wherever the wind blows and away from someplace darker than that.
We had to opportunity to ask our May Indie Artist of the Month some questions about this compelling new album:
MusicZeitgeist: Who?
Adrienne Leasa: I play guitar, keyboards, sing, and wrote the songs on my album For God’s Sake . The album was produced by Jason Rubal of Seventh Wave in Harrisburg, PA. I had the pleasure of working with excellent session musicians Marc Bohn (of Hierosonic) on drums, Roy Nash (of Flatbed Ford) on bass, Brady Henry on harmonica, and Jeremy Thompson (of Red Sea Radio) doing sequencing/programming.
MZ: What?
A.L.: Finally released my first album last year and it is eclectic to say the least. It starts with the title track For God’s Sake, a dramatic song with up to 3 part harmonies and some of my better lyrics. The next track is What Comes Next, which ended up sounding much more upbeat, poppy, and hopeful than when I wrote it. Shame is all electronic and I wrote this with my friend Carl Martin, aka Transient when we were known as Absorbed in the Spring. Cloud of Dust is blues with only guitar and 2 vocal tracks. It’s very Thelma and Louise and the disclaimer here is that I’m a pacifist, but I think men who are abusive to women have it coming and that no badge, office, or title can shield a person from karma. Deity is hard to describe. It’s about an ex that I put on some kind of badass pedestal, but who held me down. The most recently written of the tracks, I’ll Get My Way was the first song I chose for this album. It’s my pissed off blues anthem that is really fun to perform live especially with harmonica. The remainder of songs on the album are as varied as the latter few.
MZ: Why?
A.L.: Because I’ve been making music for years but I’ve been keeping it to myself for the most part. I’ve wanted to release an album for years but never felt that I had the resources or that I was in the right place in my life to do so. That changed when I met producer Jason Rubal and when I was offered financial help from my supportive family who saw that what I created musically meant a lot to me and they wanted to help make my music available to whatever audience would appreciate it.
MZ: Until when?
A.L.: Wow, who’s to say? I have at least 2 albums worth of material still to record and release so there’s plenty of potential there. I’d like to have a band to support live shows and I’m working on that. I hope that in some way I’ll be making music for the rest of my life.
MZ: Where?
A.L.: I’ve played locally in the Philadelphia, Lancaster, and Chester County areas in coffeehouses and bars. I’d love to quit my job and take for the road, but that doesn’t seem to be a possibility right now. Hopefully through promotion and band support I’ll have the opportunity to travel and bring my music to places I’ve never been. I’m dying to go to Europe so we’ll see what the future holds.
Find out more at:
www.myspace.com/absorbedinthespring
Listen now to “‘For God’s Sake” by Adrienne Leasa at MusicZeitgeist.com
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