Free and legal MP3: Leverage Models (synth-driven beat, inscrutable allure)

“Dreaming of Accidents” moves with a brisk, ’80s-pop dancebeat, offers up a glistening, hook-like synth line, throws in some falsetto vocals and a sax solo, and generally engages the ear from start to finish.

Leverage  Models

“Dreaming of Accidents” – Leverage Models

“Dreaming of Accidents” moves with a brisk, ’80s-pop dancebeat, offers up a glistening, hook-like synth line, throws in some falsetto vocals and a sax solo, and generally engages the ear from start to finish. It does so without any recognizable song structure, or any abiding hooks (the synth line is merely hook-like). There does seem to be a chorus, sort of (the “We dream ourselves to sleep” part), but it’s nothing you’re likely to pick out without repeated listens. Oh and then there’s the opening vocal section (from 0:09 through 0:36), with its portentous, mostly-one-note melody: it’s more or less a fake verse, since we never hear it again. The song glides effortlessly along from there, guided by Shannon Fields’ elastic voice, that bright, recurring synth line, and—wait for it—one particularly authoritative chord change, which I think we hear twice (first at 1:52), but it really helps the whole thing fall into place, if inscrutably so. Mostly we never really know where in the song we are; or, maybe at any point it seems we could be anywhere—verse, chorus, bridge, or some mysterious other place entirely.

“Dreaming of Accidents” is the first song released by Fields as the Leverage Models. Fields has previously been known as a prime mover behind the idiosyncratic Brooklyn ensemble Stars Like Fleas. He has apparently moved to some undisclosed location in upstate NY to record as Leverage Models. No precise word yet on an album release. MP3 via Hometapes.

2 thoughts on “Free and legal MP3: Leverage Models (synth-driven beat, inscrutable allure)”

  1. why does every ‘indie’ band, to use a silly word, seem to think that ‘moving to an undisclosed location’ somewhere in the country will instantly legitimize whatever the hell they are, or think, they’re doing. just own up to whoever you actually are, which is probably some rich kid living off his folks in some ‘undisclosed location’

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    1. Okay, a couple of things. First, the wording about an undisclosed location was mine, not the musician’s. His press material simply says he’s got a new home in “upstate New York.” My brain converted that to “undisclosed location”; my bad if the phrase I chose sparked a negative reaction for you. And I hear you on the tendency for aspiring musicians to err on the side of unrecognized pretentiousness. But what the heck, I think of it as a kind of occupational hazard. You need a pretty big ego in the first place to put music out in the world that you want/expect others to listen to. I don’t tend to hold it against people.

      Second: as per the comment guidelines, do understand that I’m asking generally and collectively here for an atmosphere of respect, giving people the benefit of the doubt, etc. That doesn’t mean no disagreement—not at all—but it does mean be nice. I do think your point could have been made with more bemusement (what you point out is kind of funny) and less judgment and/or hostility.

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