Wild Rice. Leon Frear

It was in the late fall of 2023 that Leon Frear debuted on this blog with an excellent single, 'Secret Second Moon', followed a few weeks later by 'A Town Called Chapel'. This blog week, which runs from Friday to Friday, his album Wild Rice saw the light of day. On the basis of the two singles it was much anticipated. With right it turns out.

Who Leon Frear is, seems to be a bit of a mystery, created by the man himself. Whatever, I think after having listened to the music several times. Whoever he was before, his new incarnation has delivered a quality album, that works from a rock foundation. From there he delivers an alternative kind of balladry. Don't think 1980s big hair ballads. Frear presents a big drums, almost as loud as Germany's Para Lia, and a firm bass. This basis is a rocksolid groundwork for his songs that have acoustic guitars and keyboards and atmospherics using the studio ambiance, unless this is a feature in the software of course.

Leon Frear's voice may be a hindrance for some. He sings with a whisper, half speaking, half singing. For some time he had me puzzled who he made me think of. Coincidentally I ran into the answer yesterday in my stack of "recent" cds that still need shelving, Chris Eckman, the male half of The Walkabouts singing duo and for over a decade solo artist and part in collaborations. Eckman's voice is deeper and stronger but the similarity is certainly there.

Because of his way of singing, up tempo is not an option. Most songs are slow(ish). The consequence is that I have to be in the mood for Leon Frear's music. It turns out that I regularly am. When the tempo goes up, his voice changes. Also literally to another voice, when Faye Whitts sings, at times, prominent backing vocals. All the instruments were played and arranged by Frear, making Wild Rice a near solo album in the true sense.

Promo photo: Jeremy Glickstein

One of the surprising things to me is, that by the time I was six songs into Wild Rice, I expected to have heard enough. I did not. The album stays of interest. My relationship with Leon Frear's whispering voice somehow deepened. Allowing me to keep listening to the music and the surprises in the instrumentation that pop up in the different songs. What I also found, and this is the second surprise, is that my overall impression from the first listening session was wrong. Wild Rice has a much tougher sound than I seemed to have caught in my first impression. Admittedly, my first session is always superficial, while busy doing other things.

Wild Rice opens with the single 'A Town Called Chapel'. A good choice as it sets a good mood straight away. The song opens the album up and makes me want to listen to more. Wild Rice pays in full. Take the dark song 'A Murder Of Crows'. I had already mentioned The Walkabouts. Well, if I have to compare Leon Frear's music to someone else, it's here that I arrive. There are differences, of course, but for me this is closest. His way of singing brings the lyrics so much more up close. They arrive as it were right in front of me, just like when Chris Eckman sings.

As a final observation. I really like how Leon Frear changes the perspective in the lyrics of 'She Fed Me Water' from she to I. So what is the story, really? Frear really plays with my observations and expectations here.

Summing up, yes, I have to be in the mood for some of the songs, that are really, really slow but overall Wild Rice is a far tougher album that I thought it to be. Listening with more attention paid off, as a host of details and a level of toughness is revealed that I somehow missed at first. A surprisingly good album Wild Rice is.

Wout de Natris

You can listen to and order Wild Rice here:

https://leonfrear.bandcamp.com/album/wild-rice