Search - Leona Naess :: Comatised

John C. from BALTIMORE, MD
Reviewed on 3/4/2014...

Brilliant CD by a totally overlooked artist.

Not Just Another Mediocre Debut

Jordan | mass. | 06/10/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I was worried when buying this album (after seeing the "Charm Attack" video and thinking "She looks cool") that the single would be the only striking, standout track on the album. It isn't. "Lazy Days" is one of the best vocal performances I've ever heard as her voice moves from quiet at the beginning of the song to a climactic final note at the end of the bridge. This is the albums best track. I also enjoyed "Northern Star" and "Comatised" on first listen. I have come to appreciate much of the rest of the album, but it doesn't quite reach the highest rating. I think the album's weakness lies only in Leona's lack of songwriting maturity, something that I'm sure will develop because of the promise shown on the album's best songs. This is a spectacular debut and I can't wait for more from Leona Naess."

Highly impressive debut

Mr. B. G. Fowler | 02/06/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Stepdaughter to Diana Ross, strikingly attractive and New York-based Leona Naess almost seems like she should be successful on these credentials alone. Surprisingly though there's very little hype at all about the talented British singer-songwriter, something that comes as even more of a surprise when she turns out to be actually very good indeed. She may have the credentials to be cool, the new next-big-thing, but the fact that she actually pulls it off is what makes Comatised so good. Elements of several other artists abound here, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Beth Orton is the name that springs most frequently to mind, with inflections of Tori Amos in the style of music if not in the lyrics.Gentle guitar and piano driven pop seems to be the order of the day, urged on by gorgeous vocals. Wisely Naess doesn't go for an all-out laid-back, spacey album, something that she's clearly capable of given the fragility of tracks such as Lazy Days. Instead she tries her hand at a little variety on the album's best track Charm Attack, one of those songs that you feel you should have heard before because it hits you so instantly. There are also gentle rock and roll elements on Anything, neither of which diverge from the general mood of the album or feel out of place. This is the kind of music where a great deal of its appeal is to be found in the vocals, which are admitedly beautiful and on tracks such as the appropriately named Paper Thin, have the same effect that Sarah McLachlan's voice had on Fear.Of course like any young singer trying to find her feet there is the odd clunky lyric and trip up, especially on the overly sentimental Chosen Family. However, the potential is more than evident here for a very promising career indeeed, something which Naess proved with her even better sophomore album I Tried To Rock You But You Only Roll, which is definitely worth seeking out for anyone who is a fan of Comatised. Showing more variety and greater assurance in her musical abilities it is perhaps a better starting point, although on its own Comatised is one of the best female singer songwriter albums of the past few years."