Leah Callahan - Even Sleepers (Baraca)
Since embarking on the seemingly endless quest of recording my CD collection on i-tunes, I have been faced with many a quandary filling in the genre box. Are Coil industrial? What exactly is Alt-country, and where the hell would you file Leonard Nimoy?

 There are some records that defy classification, and this debut solo effort by Leah Callahan, erstwhile vocalist with several Boston based art-rock bands, is certainly one of them. Eastern European folk, Polka, Tin-Pan Alley Jazz, flamenco, its all here in a startling assortment influences.

 The songs were written completely a cappella, with minimalist accompaniment added later by fellow Bostonian Shaun Wolf Wortis, who, obviously subscribing to Mies van der Rohe’s tenet that “less is more”, left Callahan’s melodies well alone, to the extent that in places, the songs appear sketchy and half finished. This was doubtless the intention, and adds greatly to the ambiance. The sparse uncluttered music, often comprising only acoustic guitar, keyboard and on “better than you” a solitary bass; allows freedom for Callahan’s sensuous vocals to come to the fore, reaching it’s logical conclusion on the closing track “Strip Mall”, which eschews accompaniment altogether,

 The nearest comparison that springs to mind is Tom Waits, not necessarily due to any musical likeness, although there are shades of Waits’ 80’s output in Wortis’ choice of instrumentation and DIY store percussion on a couple of tracks; but more in the formers’ ability to sound quite unlike any body else. And, like Tom Waits, Callahan has managed on “Shocking Pink” to convincingly capture the sound of inebriation. With the possible exception of Les Dawson, this is the best impression of anyone playing piano whilst half-cooked that I have heard, and perfectly sums up the after-hours mood of the album.

 Even Sleepers sounds like the sort of music that would be perfectly suited to playing at 3am in a hotel lounge, but the kind of hotel that only appears in David Lynch movies. It’s most excellent, if slightly spooky, and will be going on the i-pod as soon as I can think how to describe it. Goth-Folk? Nu-Polka? Christ only knows, but I like it.

Leighton Cooksey