Lewis & Leigh

Lewis & Leigh came from very different places, one from Wales, and one from Mississippi, but they met through a mutual friend from Nashville and a casual songwriting session has sprung into three EPs in 18 months. The duo hooked me in with their new video for their rootsy, folksy song Heart Don’t Want, delivered with dramatic horns, magnificent harmonies, and raw earthiness. I also can’t help loving the video for the song, which takes on a very sincere and organic quality as they perform the song while walking through a city, much like how they film many of La Blogotheque’s A Take Away Shows, which I happen to enjoy dearly. Heart Don’t Want reminds me of some of the music I really love from the 90′s and early 2000′s, including some of Aimee Mann’s music. Heart Don’t Want comes from Lewis & Leigh’s new EP, Hidden Truths, out October 16th. - I HEART MOOSIQ

Onto the What’s Cookin’ stage first, however, and fresh from a slot on Dermot O’Leary’s radio show the day before, Lewis and Leigh. One from Wales, one from Mississippi, and wouldn’t you know it, the geographic gap is but a mote when they harmonise on a selection of original and cover songs that quickly win over the early crowd. They start with a gentle version of Wilco’s Say You Miss Me and follow it with Rubble, an end-of-industry family nostalgia lyric indicative of the cross-pollination a boy from the valleys and a girl from the Deep South will create. The melodies are strong and some of the arrangements, specifically a blues based journey through the darker alleys of Soho that has real grit. Lewis and Leigh call the confluence of their art ‘Celticana’ – unnecessarily contrived for an assured sound delivered with confidence. One to watch. - Folk Radio UK

Wales and Mississippi’s Lewis & Leigh, respectively, released their sophomore EP, Missing Years, a month ago to the day. A four song set of 3 originals and a Coldplay cover that almost made me enjoy the band, almost. If Coldplay consistently sounded like Lewis & Leigh, they’d have a fan in me.

Ironically connecting through their Nashvillian connections, Alva Leigh found herself jumping the pond to join Al Lewis to fan the songwriting spark that formed on their first EP, 2014’s Night Drives. If this is an example of what’s to come, consider it a move well worth it. From the minimalist poppy folk of “Devils In The Detail” to the smoky jazz lounge tinge of “Late Show”, Lewis & Leigh’s talents are on full-fanned display. Their voices perfect together like butter on a biscuit, slick arrangements and powerful melodies with a true pop sensibility, although not contrived but completely organic.

Lewis & Leigh make as teemed a video collaboration as they do with audio treats. The first video for “Devil’s In The Detail” was filmed in an old Suffolk mansion on an 8mm app, a visual feast in itself. Backed by a video for “Rubble” that paints the heartbroken pictures of both south Wales’ valleys and those of Mississippi after Katrina’s unabashed stop over, you’ve been warned… - No Depression

Sometimes you just *know* from the first notes that something is going to be good, and five seconds into “What Is There To Do”, the lead song on this four track EP, is one of those times. It’s a melody for the ages played out on steel guitar and the duo’s vocals, together and separately, swing sweetly over it.

Things slow down for the stately aching “All Night Drive” before building to an epic crescendo, while “Anchor Line” is stripped back and delicate. Things come to a close with a cover of Jeff Tweedy’s “Say You Miss Me”, a quiet, reflective take that’s a long way from Wilco’s on “Being There” and aches all the more for it. Lewis and Leigh have been around for a while, with each having several solo releases behind them but this is where they belong. More please, and soon. - Americana UK