Sometimes you find the best music when you are not looking for it. This was the case with this album. Whilst innocently following links from the Geno Washington website, Leanie Kaleido's wistful look on the cover caught the Bluesbunny's attention. Listening to some sample tracks led to the (now familiar) urge to purchase.
Karamelien is the kind of album that just gets under your skin and you just end up playing it constantly. Reminiscent of the Marine Girls and early Everything But The Girl with echoes of the more ethereal parts of the British folk movement in the early seventies, Leanie Kaleido has that curiously English charm that makes you want to buy her flowers. The sweet and charming presentation, however, is merely a veneer for some dark and dryly amusing lyrics on the subjects of life and love. "Witchsong" is nicely disguised as a conventional folk song but the best tracks are the bitchy "Silicone Valerie" with its lyrics on the emotional costs of surgically enhanced success. and the not entirely unrelated "Ugly in the Back of a Spoon".
Closer to Carly Simon than Christine Collister, Leanie Kaleido represents something of an enigma. She sounds less worldly than she actually is but, with this album, she proves herself an acute observer of the finer points of the human condition. As a bonus, she manages to remain warm and likeable throughout. A charming album and we hope to hear more from her.