Annie Leeth has a knack for distilling big emotions into compact dramas. Her work grapples with unknowable truths and complex questions. On her forthcoming album, Leeth confronts her fears all while walking a tightrope between musical alchemy and sheer chaos.
Since releasing her album Less Traveled in 2021, Leeth has kept busy. She teamed up with Athens artist/songwriter LeeAnn Peppers on the mind-bending album All We Are. Since then she’s been hard at work in her home studio concocting her new, yet-to-be-titled record.
Released just yesterday, the first two singles offer a tantalizing taste of what she’s been working on. Musically, the tracks evoke instability balanced by calm, introspective moments. For Leeth, the spectrum of emotions is an intentional effort to face every imaginable ugly self-judgment to accept yourself as you are. It’s a tapestry of intense passion that encompasses what Tennessee Williams had in mind when he wrote “nothing human disgusts me” (thanks King of the Hill!).
“Intro” starts as a ghostly lament where Leeth repeats “felt it just for awhile” alongside a silken bed of deep synthesizers. It’s an almost meditative koan that reflects on the transitory nature of feelings. Then the song kicks into high gear, channeling some sort of charmed mix of psychedelic Beatles and Charlie XCX. As quickly as the feelings start, the song ends with satisfying electric trills.
On the flip side, “My Fears” is a marvelous mixture of loops, pizzicato violin, and 808s with Leeth’s tranquil vocals radiating at the center. She’s more confident and self-assured than ever as she braves bigger, more turbulent themes. As an anxious person myself, it’s hard not to hear the song’s central loop without hearing your own self-talk laughing at you. The effect provokes you as it highlights the surreal, spiraling thoughts of a mind all a flutter. It’s captivating in every sense of the word.
“I home-produced this song (as well as the rest of the record) and really wanted to focus on taking my time and pushing some of my production boundaries,” says Leeth. “I had started listening to a lot of Charlie XCX when this song was made and was loving the production style that AG Cook puts out, so this song is definitely heavily inspired by him.”
Listen below.
When Leeth is not on the road as a keyboardist and violinist for Faye Webster, she can be found producing a wide range of acts at Chase Park Transduction in Athens.
Leeth’s new album is due out later this year.
More Info
Web: annieleeth.com
Facebook: @annieleethmusic
Instagram: @annie.leeth