Dark and Beautiful: Natascha Leonie's "Forget Humble"

I'm a huge fan of David Lynch's work. He has the capability of painting beautiful scenic environs hiding a dark and brooding underbelly. (Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks) Think of Natascha Leonie as the David Lynch of music. Before I go on, I should say that this is a good thing. Love songs can be so simplistic that after a few of them you are in sugar overload. Natascha never lets that happen. Forget Humble is a collection of dark love songs that bleed, brood and even brag. The composition of these tracks is complex, the lyrics thick with meaning and the music-always beautiful.

Monument kicks off this collection with a vengeance, punctuating the lyrics with just the right emphasizing beat. And the lyrics? Oh my! Take the second stanza for instance:

"Knowing no consideration at all
You use your keen mind for a cunning call
Your attempts to be evil
Are so wretched and I don’t get
Why you fake why you hurt why you lie"

This is an example of the type of pointed lyric that is evident throughout this collection. If Monument lyrically is dark, you only get a hint of that in the music. Again, this is a quality that runs throughout Humble.

On the title track, Forget Humble, the beauty takes over full force. The piano and cello on this track are magnificent. The up-beat Bisquit is perhaps my favorite track on this collection, though it's hard to really finger a favorite. Bisquit's alt-country composition and Natascha's straight-forward delivery bob and weave and please at every turn. A counter-point to Bisquit is the brooding Bridge, with the sadness of love lost. Each offers one of the best lyric lines that I've ever heard.

"‘Cause you are like a stone in my happy shoe
you’re under my toe everywhere I go"

Indeed, all of us have probably experienced people who have left us with a pain that won't go away-like a stone in our shoe. Armchair talks about meeting someone in a bar and thinking that it would have been better if they had just stayed in that situation rather than taking the relationship further. Black Ice is perhaps the darkest song on Humble and yet still lovely in its presentation.

There is plenty to love and ponder on Forget Humble. Production is slick, calculated and generally well suited to the music. German born Natascha Leonie currently lives in the U.K. and is flanked on Humble by a host of very talented Musicians. You can find out more about Natascha Leonie and listen to a few full samples from the Humble by visiting her web page or her MySpace page. You can purchase Forget Humble from CD Baby or digitally from AmieStreet.com, among other sources.