Brooklyn-based New Zealander Leila Adu released her EP Scary Love Monster last week, and while I was sorry to miss her record release show at Cake Shop, I still wanted to take the opportunity to write about her music since I was immediately struck by its originality and beauty.
A veteran composer in a variety of musical styles, Leila Adu takes timeless songwriting formulas on voyages to the terra incognita of pop. The palette of sound used here is rich and colorful, and the substance is leagues deep. This is pop that you can dive into and find yourself aesthetically and lyrically nourished. Opening with the titular track, Adu’s voice spirals up and down the scale giving melodic life to the feeling of falling down a rabbit hole of romance. She sings declarations of hard-won self-discovery, depicting an acceptance of contradictory desires. The piece travels to different landscapes, tinged with a Middle Eastern flair on the bridge and a dreamy twinkle in the atmospheric accompaniment. The repeated line, “Is there anything scarier than opening up to someone?” plays in my head long after the song ends.
“Oriental Finger Trap” is a carefully choreographed number where in the chorus, she seems bored with her predicament, literally stuck between four notes. The verses take a theatrical turn when a circus like waltz supports her fluttering voice, contrasting the ennui so much as to nearly erase it. Her soft, jazzy lilt in the last verse of the song showcases a warm, plush tone, stylistically reminiscent of 40s singers such as Judy Garland.
“Nefertiti’s Waking Dream” is where the album starts to change hues. Another New York-based band, Half Waif, coined the term ‘mood ring pop’ for their music, and a similar idea applies here. Songs shift mood subtly and guide the listener on a psychic journey. In the third track, haunting and strange patterns step up and down the scale with balletic precision. The chorus has a zombielike rhythm that gives strength to the lyrical imagery, which is particularly vibrant and frank, almost like a Modern poem.
“The Bluest Eye” is an intimate and hypnotic dream pop lullaby. It gives the sensation of being inside a music box, listening to the opera of the artist’s dream. Within the context of the album, this number is the tunnel that takes the listener from the easily accessible first numbers to the far more experimental final numbers.
“Bluebeards and Monsters,” the surprising choice for a single from this EP, appears to be the culmination of the theme of entrapment so central to the album, describing being caught in the clutches of “two Bluebeards” and soliciting advice on how to survive. Opening with urgent chanting and enthusiastic percussion, the song is soon frosted with futuristic electronic effects that eventually overtake the shaken instruments, contrasting both ends of the chronological musical spectrum. It commences with the first methods humans used to create song and finishes with the ambiance of the digital age.
The finale, “Nothing’s Going Wrong” opens with deep, fibrous orchestrations that override Adu’s pure, oceanic voice. This song is the aural equivalent of the feeling of drowning; the depression and grief in the instruments sets unsettling juxtaposition against the optimistic vocal melody. In spite of the blue nature of the song, it is a declaration of triumph. The artist has been besieged by monsters of all kinds, but she will move forward. Despite what you perceive, nothing’s going wrong.
Scary Love Monster evolves from heartfelt pop to intellectual anguish in a matter of minutes and it feels 100 percent authentic. Growing steadily more stripped down and open as it progresses, it moves like a conversation with a new lover, beginning with shimmering musings about romance and traveling to dark memories and a reassurance of her own indomitable personal grit. The motif of imprisonment and the theme of fear are present and noticeable to the observant listener and make repeat plays of the album more meaningful. This EP is a brief work of elusive beauty that develops psychologically and musically. I have listened to it countless times now and I continue to discover new insight in each song and in the œuvre as a whole. I’m hoping to catch Leila Adu next time she plays in NYC, because if her live performance is as stunning as her recorded work, then I’m a fan for life.
Scary Love Monster is available for purchase on iTunes. Listen to the title track here!
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