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Well, those Machiavellian record companies spin doctors immediately start championing her as 'the next big thing': South Africa's answer to Alanis Morrisette, don't they?
Just as well that Josie Field deserves most of the hype then. Yes, an emotionally bruised femme-folk rocker like "Without You" or a delicate piano powered love ballad such as "The Shape of My Heart" suggest she wears the influences of say, Alanis Morrissette or Fetish's forgotten femme fatale Michelle Breeze rather well. But don't presume this means she's cut from the same singer songwriter cloth. Those 'strong 'n sensitive' or 'psycho babe' stereotypes don't actually apply with Leyland.
Instead, we meet an unflinchingly honest young woman coming to terms with living, loving and working in a man's world. "Beating Heart" is an edgy opening gambit that finds Josie turning what could've been just another heartbreak ballad into a feral celebration of womanhood with a straight talking snarl that fans of Tinita Tikaram and Skin are going to feel - whether they adore alt. folk rock or not.
Josie's secret is that she refuses to pull any punches about how's she's feeling. No pussyfooting around the 'oh woe is me' pity pot when yet another boyfriend's treated her badly. "Life is what you make of it, this I know for sure. I know for a fact I brought this on myself....All thoughts you manifest happen" she reflects on country-rap rocker "Law of Attraction". Yes, you heard right. It's a killer women's empowerment anthem with Godessa's EJ Von Lyrik with a defiantly simple message: if you're looking for shit you'll find it. So stop playing the victim card, step up to the plate, deal with your feelings and shape your own destiny.
Which is precisely what she does on a pair of folk rock ballads that give those dodgy A&R executives who once asked her to piss on her fire and write commercial crap the middle finger.
"I was told when I was 16 that my music would never make the scene because my voice wasn't pop and my lyrics mean" she sighs on folk rocker "Hey Man". Okay, surely this is a case of a wannabe alternative rock siren's lament at being misunderstood? Nope. In the next sentence she fesses up: "Understandably I believed it. So I took all the help I could get, musically that I regret, giving a little piece of my soul away every time someone would try and take what the others got and twist it up. Because you know better and you know it's not commercial enough."
Right. Clearly Josie's not finding it easy navigating the whole cult of celebrity thing. "This song sounds like a pop song, but I'm not a pop star, though I'd love to think I was. I'm so threatened by the girl in the poster. But I know her show’s over and I’m playing here tonight" she croons on the ironic "Pop Song".
It's a deft little unplugged deconstruction of her own Pop pigeonholing paranoia that frees her up to experiment with harmonica-hued country hoe-downs ("Remind Me of Me"), bluesy meditations on romance ("Hate the Game") and Dolly Parton-pouted ditties about finding the independence ("Freedom I Deserve"), love and respect she's looking for.
- Miles Keylock
Just as well that Josie Field deserves most of the hype then. Yes, an emotionally bruised femme-folk rocker like "Without You" or a delicate piano powered love ballad such as "The Shape of My Heart" suggest she wears the influences of say, Alanis Morrissette or Fetish's forgotten femme fatale Michelle Breeze rather well. But don't presume this means she's cut from the same singer songwriter cloth. Those 'strong 'n sensitive' or 'psycho babe' stereotypes don't actually apply with Leyland.
Instead, we meet an unflinchingly honest young woman coming to terms with living, loving and working in a man's world. "Beating Heart" is an edgy opening gambit that finds Josie turning what could've been just another heartbreak ballad into a feral celebration of womanhood with a straight talking snarl that fans of Tinita Tikaram and Skin are going to feel - whether they adore alt. folk rock or not.
Josie's secret is that she refuses to pull any punches about how's she's feeling. No pussyfooting around the 'oh woe is me' pity pot when yet another boyfriend's treated her badly. "Life is what you make of it, this I know for sure. I know for a fact I brought this on myself....All thoughts you manifest happen" she reflects on country-rap rocker "Law of Attraction". Yes, you heard right. It's a killer women's empowerment anthem with Godessa's EJ Von Lyrik with a defiantly simple message: if you're looking for shit you'll find it. So stop playing the victim card, step up to the plate, deal with your feelings and shape your own destiny.
Which is precisely what she does on a pair of folk rock ballads that give those dodgy A&R executives who once asked her to piss on her fire and write commercial crap the middle finger.
"I was told when I was 16 that my music would never make the scene because my voice wasn't pop and my lyrics mean" she sighs on folk rocker "Hey Man". Okay, surely this is a case of a wannabe alternative rock siren's lament at being misunderstood? Nope. In the next sentence she fesses up: "Understandably I believed it. So I took all the help I could get, musically that I regret, giving a little piece of my soul away every time someone would try and take what the others got and twist it up. Because you know better and you know it's not commercial enough."
Right. Clearly Josie's not finding it easy navigating the whole cult of celebrity thing. "This song sounds like a pop song, but I'm not a pop star, though I'd love to think I was. I'm so threatened by the girl in the poster. But I know her show’s over and I’m playing here tonight" she croons on the ironic "Pop Song".
It's a deft little unplugged deconstruction of her own Pop pigeonholing paranoia that frees her up to experiment with harmonica-hued country hoe-downs ("Remind Me of Me"), bluesy meditations on romance ("Hate the Game") and Dolly Parton-pouted ditties about finding the independence ("Freedom I Deserve"), love and respect she's looking for.
- Miles Keylock
