Anthea Leigh- Demo

Apparently collecting material from 2002-2006, Anthea Leigh's ten song demo combines strong and relatively unique musicality and production with a slew of obvious and not-so-obvious ethereal, alternative, trip-hop, electronica, experimental, industrial, new wave, and goth influences. With a haunting voice sometimes recalling the childlike timbre of Cranes' Allison Shaw, Leigh's reverb-drenched vocals pour out atop a landscape of often subtle, layered atmospheric electronics with an interesting sense of spatial openness. The resulting compositions run the gamut from dreamy slow-paced trip-hop to ethereal electronica to darkwave with experimental tendencies and subdued semi-industrial undertones.

The standouts here are easy to spot. The beautiful, hazy, lush trip-hop of "Taken", the moody, stark simplicity of "Love Says", the sinister synths, shuffling percussion, and robotic processed vocals of the more experimental "In My Pupils", and the dense atmospherics of the plodding "Crescent Path" all leave a lasting impression. "Edge of" is also quite noteworthy, a somewhat more up-tempo blend of pulsating synth bass and unsettling synth work that's about as close as Leigh gets here to club fare. That's, of course, not to say the rest of the material here is without merit. The more musically airy "Make Up", the unique rhythmic sense of "The Sky", the ethereal electronica of "Six", the almost Bjork-esque "Inside", and the dark eastern atmospherics of "Cannot Deny" round out the set nicely.

Dark and lovely, this collection of recordings, while not always entirely consistent, is quite impressive more often than not. Some, if not all, of this material will likely makes its way onto Anthea's upcoming self-released debut. Until then, a trip to her home on Myspace is certainly worthwhile.