Laura Vecchione’s latest album Love Lead grabs hold of the listener’s ears from the first track and never lets go. On fire for 13 songs, this Boston-based singer rocks, struts, and sometimes lulls her listener into a special place in each track.
Opening track “Light Of Day” finds her crooning mightily over gently assertive guitar and keyboard melodies with enough oomph to push this tune into anthem territory. Vecchione’s voice is loaded, loaded with spiritual ebullience, grace, and beauty. Her sustains become something special over her choir of backing singers and just when one thinks this song cannot get even better, it does.
“Keep Knockin’” can blow away any listener with its fierce R&B belting, killer horns, heavenly backing vocals, and a rhythm section that kicks like a mule. Hip, on time, and filled with groovy organ, this one can fill the soul with its special emotive uplift while motivating the hips and the feet to move to its infectious beat. Vecchione had to have plenty of Motown and Stax records in her collection growing up to know how to write this “stuff that can call my bluff.”
Title track “Love Lead” finds Vecchione at her most sultry. Her lilting vocal is whispery smooth here, each coo and sustain expressing a deep sense of longing. She makes this song feel like it’s climbing toward mountainous depths of emotional high and musical beauty.
Next, “Traffic Light” takes things into more mellow territory. Vecchione’s high, sweet vocal carries us through this metaphor for life’s various hindrances. Her voice is candy for the ears as is the light touches of acoustic guitar beneath her. Likewise, “Birdsong,” which continues the mellow vibe of this album, features more of Vecchione’s sweet, tender crooning. Her tendency here to keep asserting her vocal with occasional sustains dot this song with something special.
Vecchione returns to a more mid-tempo groove with “Better Man,” a catchy melody with infectious drum work number. She eases her graceful voice over a backdrop of mysterious guitar phrasing, and it’s a treat to hear her voice working its way over that and other backing players. This song is a force of nature in its own plain of existence.
Vecchione covers Kim Morrison’s “Rockin’ A Baby” with a spunky attitude. This song takes no mess, either in its original recording or in this feisty cover. Vecchione rocks out in a rootsie, slide guitar, gutsy honky tonk mama approach. Her more aggressive side is easy to appreciate as she makes her way through this chuck of sass.
“Judas Kiss” is the coolest track on this album. Vecchione’s self-confessional lyrics about suffering a traitorous relationship are wonderfully infused with her soulful vocal. She sensually snakes her way through the motions of this R&B, and she delivers each verse and chorus with the right amount of punch. She makes you feel it.
Vecchione shows she can send a strong message in quieter music with “Brave,” a tender but surefooted tale of loss and rejection. Emotional honesty and a powerful delivery make this another gem on her CD. “You’re The One” is another tune in which Vecchione puts a lot of heart and soul into a quieter, gentle expression. The listener feels uplifted every time this singer gets wind under sails and takes the song even higher with her loftier assertions.
Moving back into a jaunty, mid-tempo groove, “Marksman” makes clear how she was left wounded by a person who targeted her for a bad experience. Lush vocals over a bouncy, peppy beat make this a winsome charmer. It’s impossible not to tap ones toes to it, even though it‘s about a painful experience.
Dynamics is one of this singer’s strong suits. “Lone Wolf” shows more of Vecchione’s artistic flourishes with her vocal approaches. Moving from a quiet, whispery hush to a sharper vocal line takes the listener into the song’s wider dimension. Vecchione closes out her disc with “Midlife,” a moody violin driven number that lets her shine in a forlorn, emotive fashion, serving up plenty of feeling without seeming to try. Wow, what a voice.
Vecchione reaches a lot of musical heights with this Love Lead album. She rocks right out on some tracks and on others becomes a sultry R&B singer as well as a singer-songwriter with a beauteous voice that always hits her listener’s tender spot. Let’s see how many awards this album racks up in the next several months.
