I will admit that prior to about a week ago, I had never heard of Miss Leo Ieiri, and when I had heard about her, I had a friend tell me about the “Taylor Swift-esque country sounding songs” on the album. Needless to say, I was skeptical when a couple other friends told me to try the album. I’m very glad I did, though. LEO is one of the best albums I’ve heard this year, hands down. While she fits the stereotypical “girl with guitar” stereotype that we’ve come to know and love, especially with singers like miwa and YUI topping charts, Ieiri pulls it off with a charm, tenacity, and sheer talent that I haven’t heard in a very long time.
To the “country” comments, I can only say that there isn’t really much of a country influence in this album at all. If there is any at all, I certainly don’t hear it. What I do hear, though, is a very strong collection of guitar pop rock and, at times, some folk influenced material. The album starts off with her debut a-side, “Sabrina,” which really sets the tone for the entire album. It’s a nice, hooky slice of pop rock that really shows off her skill. Miss Ieiri knows how to write a chorus and hook. I can hardly count the number of times that her singing of “itsudatte, itsudatte” or that catchy little hook of “Saburina, ba ba ba ba la, Saburina” has popped into my head. The other two a-sides of the album, “Shine” and “Bless You,” also ventured into this realm of hooky pop rock, albeit with her signature acoustic guitar–she wouldn’t be “girl with guitar” without it–to similar effect. One of the standouts in this style, though, would be the new album track, “Fake Love.” While it’s essentially a heavier version of “Sabrina,” it’s much more dynamic, has a quite catchy hook that grabs you from the very start of the song, and allows her to show off her vocal chops. While she’s no belting machine–then again, I’m not exactly a huge fan of the people who overuse it–she shows a power and emotion in her voice that belies her 17 years of age.
Miss Ieiri also ventures outside of the standard pop rock songs and puts out some fantastic material. On one side of the coin, she has the more bouncy songs on the record, particularly “Linda” and “Mister.” Both have this kind of peppy drum line and they really lean more on the pop side of pop rock. Not altogether very new or innovative, but Leo pulls them off with undeniable charm and some great vocal performances, especially in “Linda” where her delivery is just spot on. On the flip side, there’s one song that deserves some special attention: “Second Dream.” Now, I love strings in my songs. I love strings to death, so when I heard cello strokes opening up this song, I almost died and went to heaven. While it has the rock vibes of songs like “Sabrina,” it has a very prominent strings line throughout the entire song that blends seamlessly with the rest of the song. It adds a certain sophistication and elegance to the song and sets it apart in a very positive way.
Of course, it’s not a proper mainstream Japanese album without a ballad or two. Luckily for Leo, she pulls these off quite well. “Ashita Mata Hare Masu You ni” and “Say Goodbye” are a couple of great folk-influenced power ballads, with “Ashita” being backed by a lush arrangement of strings and “Say Goodbye” being accompanied by a slide guitar. They both bring some great vocal performances out of Leo, and are very pleasant to listen to. The real treat, though, is the penultimate track on the album: “Lady Mary.” With an absolutely remarkable arrangement combining strings, piano, and acoustic guitar, Lady Mary is a ballad that starts off slow and delicate and just builds into an cathartic chorus. The emotion she puts into her voice only makes the song better. There’s such a longing in her voice, and combined with the wistful sound of the instrumental creates a haunting song that you’ll remember long after the album is over.
That’s not to say the album is completely perfect. Being so young, Miss Ieiri has yet to acquire full control of her voice, and it’s a bit shaky at points. She’s not helped by her vibrato, which–much like the ever lovely Utada Hikaru or Florence Welch–is of the machine gun variety. While I personally love machine gun vibratos, they can be annoying to some people, and I recognize that. The bigger problem with the album is the mastering. This is a loud album and the dynamics just aren’t there. Because of the choices on the part of the mastering technician or whatever the hell you call him, in many of the more upbeat song, songs just sound like mashes of sound and everything just mushes together and sounds overall muddy. That isn’t enough to stop you from listening to the album, in my opinion, but it is definitely something to be aware of when you’re going to begin listening to the album.
With all said and done, though, this is a marvelous debut album. Leo Ieiri has managed to leave a lasting impression on me and hopefully on the Japanese public as well. In a world where all the “girls with guitars” are sounding the same, Miss Ieiri is a breath of fresh air and the kick in the ass that this subsection of female singers needed. I hope Leo sticks around for a very long time.
LEO is the first studio album released by Leo Ieiri. It was released on the 24th of October and was preceded by singles “Sabrina,” “Shine,” and “Bless You.” “Hello” was a b-side to “Shine.” The album reached #2 on the Weekly Oricon Album charts.
Highlights: “Sabrina,” “Second Dream,” “Fake Love,” “Lady Mary”
Tracklist
- Sabrina (サブリナ)
- Last Stage
- Say Goodbye
- Shine
- Ashita Mata Hare Masu You ni (明日また晴れますように; Tomorrow As You Shine)
- Second Dream
- Kimi Dake (キミだけ; Only You)
- Bless You
- Fake Love
- Hello
- Mister (ミスター)
- Lady Mary
- Linda
Sexy Little Things 