There is surely no shortage of American singer songwriters out there with a piano and a collection of heartfelt songs but Lia Menaker has also been blessed with both a reflective mind and a sense of theatricality and it is those two things that provide the forward momentum for her album “Animal Behavior”.
In addition, there is a certain nervous energy evident with “Holding Your Space”, in consequence, invigorating you like cup of lemon ginger tea and, whilst “Susan” reflects instead upon the changing faces of friendship, that spirited theatricality remains close to hand and “Animal Behavior” soon heads off in a direction that surely suggests a desire to reinvent the bleaker variety of show tune.
“Between The Bars” likewise follows the path to the stage and, even if chord larceny seems on Ms. Menaker’s mind, the spotlight still shines brightly upon her. “Bones” features her colleagues from the band Broken Darling and, with an edgy poetry driving her lyrics forward, she steers the song like seventies rock was all that she worshipped. It doesn’t take much imagination to see this song as her star turn.
Although there is a certain lack of polish to some of the songs on “Animal Behavior”, it is also true that Lia Menaker has the kind of voice that would likely outshine any string arrangement, or band for that matter, anyway.
The album is available from Bandcamp.