Les

The View From Here
by Scott Hefflon

Les is a one-man band, I believe (not a lot of info available, which sucks, cuz I’m on my third time through this CD, and I’m usually lucky if I can make it through three songs by unsigned bands without smashing the jewelcase and CD into small pieces so no one else will ever even accidentally have to hear it again). Words like “impassioned” come to mind, but you only have to subject yourselves to a couple reviews in local free rags to see every hack use that word to describe what they haven’t the skill to vocalize more precisely. Les is passionate. And he’s a multi-instrumentalist. But he’s not a wimpy singer/songwriter you want to kick the shit out of, but don’t for fear he’d write yet another whiny song about it.

OK, so there are moments of singer/songwriterism (and a few moments of subpar songwriting, but no one ever said his shit didn’t stink), but anyone who liked Block or Jane Jensen is often surprised by occasionally liking singer/songwriter stuff when done well. Whether singing intimately or belting it out, often sweeping into falsetto like Radiohead, Muse, or Ours, Les offsets the delicate with the powerful, without relying on monster distortion. Not that he doesn’t utilize distortion (hence some writers throwing out grunge and Tool as reference points without ever getting past song two, when the CD doesn’t really start to win you over until song six or seven). Like the cover, Les is about space, and space takes time to fully explore.
(www.lesnoise.com)