Happysad EP Review

May 2004

Jon Leahy is no stranger to these pages. As a long-time forum poster and occasional article submitter, we’ve almost come to consider him as one of the family. This is his first submission to us, and the reviewer becomes the reviewed. Let the games commence.

Jon has kept the package simple in every respect with only two tracks. The voice jumps out at you instantly. It’s sweet and pure with the slightest hint of gravel, and a fairly generous dollop of reverb fills out the sound nicely.

The guitar sounds like it was recorded through a piezo-pickup with a touch of chorus. The characteristic "fizz" typical of this setup is audible, but the mix quality is perfectly adequate. He’s got a nice touch on the guitar and there are some lovely chord sequences here, with interesting inversions and dissonances aplenty.

The first track, Our Special fills your ears with a lush soundscape woven from voice and guitar only. Simple, melancholy lyrics complete the package. The second track, Still Rain continues in the same vein with sparse aching vocals: "Open door, shine some light/Somethin’s wrong with my life". Overdubbed acoustic soloing helps to lift the piece towards the end.

I’d really like hear these songs in a bigger arrangement. I can imagine these tracks with percussion, bass, pizzicato arpeggios and big string sections. I’m not suggesting for a moment that Jon rush out and book the National Symphony Orchestra. An accomplished keyboard player with a decent sample library could rustle up something convincing in a few hours. These are great songs, but many great songs never reach a large audience because they have to compete with other great songs (not to mention the aural bubblegum the record companies thrust upon us). So think big, Jon – re-mortgage your granny, and give the world a chance to hear your work.

By Ivan