Leah Nobel – Running In Borrowed Shoes
Release date: February 8, 2019 via Big Yellow Dog Music
29 January 2019
Some artists and bands have a writing process that they go through when they are putting together new songs for an album. Then, there is Leah Nobel’s process. Prior to recording her new album ‘Running In Borrowed Shoes’, Nobel interviewed 100 people in preparation of writing these new songs. Along the way she stopped people at the local YMCA, talked to strangers at the coffee shop and reached out to people from all over the world, via social media. In all, she came away with ten songs that made the album after speaking with people from many different backgrounds and life experiences. Nobel took these stories and put them into her music. What she created is a collection of emotional stories and inviting songs.
The album ‘Running In Borrowed Shoes’ starts off a capella, with the line, My mother used to stand beside the mirror and she’d tell me what she hated. Then she continues, I don’t like my eyes, my thighs, or how my front teeth, see? They’re separated. You sort of know where this song called Good Enough is going, but Leah Nobel has a nice way of painting this picture of what beauty really is.
Coffee Sunday NYT is the ultimate, “take a minute, have a look around and recharge”, song. I also love the production on this track. The straight beat with finger snaps seems so simple but it works incredibly well here. That paired with those reverse piano inserts and really just the piano in general, with her voice has a soothing quality to it. A soothing experience, just like the song intends.
Her single This Pain Will Be Useful, is a beautifully written and recorded song. Nobel’s haunting vocal performance made me think of Margo Timmins of the Cowboy Junkies. I found myself closing my eyes to try to get even closer into the song. In the same way I do with Margo’s songs. Nobel says of this song, “One of the most impressive things to me about human beings is our resilience and I really wanted to echo that in this song.” Just. All of that.
The album finishes as strong as it starts. My favorite song, Slow Burn has a great acoustic guitar as the foundation. The finger slides on the strings give this song immense character. The final track, Messy Kitchen, is another song I found myself admiring the production on. The album ending with a sort of “message song” is such a great way to end this record, after witnesses these stories that Nobel shared with us throughout. The messier the kitchen, the better the meal. It’s not supposed to be anything, it is what it is.
As I got further into this album, I found myself appreciating not only Nobel’s soft vocal tone but her writing style as well. That partnered with terrific production from producer Pete Stewart, who also engineered the record, gave us a collection of songs that won’t age badly. There’s several reasons but the main one is because it’s honest. And honestly never goes out of style.
-Tommy Marz
You can follow Tommy on Twitter and let him know what you think.
‘Running In Borrowed Shoes’ Tracklist:
1. Good Enough
2. Coffee Sunday NYT
3. Truly Known
4. Steps
5. This Pain Will Be Useful
6. Earth And Sky
7. What Home Is
8. Loved You First
9. Slow Burn
10. Messy Kitchen
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