Leon Frear - A Morning House (self-released)

Anything that mentions both Marty Willson-Piper and Nick Cave as musical points of reference is surely going to catch the eye of any discerning music fan. That said, having heard, enjoyed…nay, loved, his previous singles, there was no way this would slip through my fingers anyway.

This third single ahead of the soon-to-drop album, Wild Rice is, as always, a song requiring you to dig deeper beyond first impressions. Musically, “A Morning House” sits somewhere between the likes of The Lumineers and the more lateral sonic view of a band such as Talking Heads and whilst that, coupled with the references mentioned earlier, is intriguing enough, it is the back story that is the most interesting.

Truly biographical and from the heart, as are all his songs, it explores the regrets and what-ifs that we all muse over from time to time, a subject that, given how he has completely reinvented himself in recent years, is in so many ways, close to Leon Frear’s heart. It is also a song that came to him in a dream, I guess the subconscious is sometimes great at finding silver linings in our troubled minds and turning those worries into creativity.

Frear’s music is perhaps some of the most open and honest you can experience, music that holds a light up to his life, the good and the bad, the achievements and the regrets, the hope and the heartache. It might be a cathartic process for him, but the ability to turn that pain and anguish into understated yet quietly ecstatic sonic beauty is a skill he possesses like few others.

Wild Rice album order
Bandcamp
Spotify
A Town Called Chapel
Secret Second Moon