‘Leo’ is the third solo album from the former lead singer with UK Americana band ‘Case Hardin’ who I confess never crossed my radar.
String arrangements adorned its predecessors 'Here There's No Sirens'(2019) and 'The Fragile Line'(2020) and with ‘Leo’ we now get horn arrangements courtesy of his producer, multi-instrumentalist, Joe Bennett.
It’s highly debatable whether the songs benefit from such a lavish production job. At their best they provide a lush veneer, at their worst they dominate to the point of distraction.
For better or worse, concerts in support of the album will see the band, alongside both ‘The Siren Strings’ and 'The Leo Horns'.
The record’s title comes from the album’s centrepiece Leonard’s Bar , the story of a former criminal who has fallen on hard times and has a growing family to support. He reluctantly agrees to accept what he hopes will his final job under the sympathetic eye of Leo, his brother-in-law : “I'll drive, but I'm not going in, guns scare me so much more than they once did.”
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I can’t fathom why Gow thought the strings and horns overkill would improve the sound of such a track rather than go for a punchier, stripped back version. The title This City Is A Symphony suggests that this reflects how he experiences his surroundings.
Only the reprise of Where Else Would We be Going gives a hint of how a simpler approach could have paid greater dividends. Otherwise, the songs of small town struggles and Springsteen-esque drama are swamped and frequently drowned out.
Pete Gow’s website
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