Ohhh I'm so excited to tell you about this gem of a troubadour!! His name is Robert Leslie. I found him on the subway platform at the 2nd avenue station of the uptown F. Which is a terribly smart place to be on a Tuesday night as a blossoming musician. I had just gone to see another great act, Zane Carney (actually, two great acts because his brother was playing with him that night and hot damn they were good) and myself and a flood of other show-goers were treated to Mr. Leslie's stylings while waiting for the train. What good luck. I even skipped getting on the first one so I could hear some more of his tunes.
Such a cutie! Though he can't be older than 25, he's got a from-another-age-like quality, just a hint of something special that's not too modern and not affected either; the way he speaks in stanzas and impossible imagination, with the confidence of a young person too dependent on intuition and too wary to accept authority. He's a writer, a poet. A singer and musician almost only as if by necessity, to make his musings come alive in another way off the page. Ok, so maybe I'm projecting and whipping up stories a little bit. But if you're a sensitive and interested person, ya can't help absorbing more than what is told and shown when consuming another's intimate arts. And album explanations. The back-story along with his latest album, Sense of Distance, stirs the vagabond in me to wake in a palpable dream. I fell in love more. When I met him, he was wearing the obligatory hat with a big old poppy-like plastic flower and a knit scarf. He told me he's from England but also American. Ah, tis a certain blessing to hold multiple passports.
Anyway -- I just got to listening to his CD and am I excited for what I hope will be his inevitable success. Good stuff like this, souls that strike your inner chord clearly, you just want 'em to succeed.
Great to listen to on a run, by the way. Especially if, like me, you haven't gone for a run in AGES and are panting and ready to collapse after one minute and find yourself walking every other block; nice and soothing in such states of mild physical distress.
LYRICS
.....Piece of mind or piece of ass / gotta live and make it last / and gotta get it down somehow / pocket all the cents and dimes / And if another lecture hall / locks me in or tries to teach / more flawed ideas or battle calls / tell them that I can't be reached / tell them they've already leeched my happiness, my wherewithal / they must be sick of all my sighing / oh come on now everybody stop / I'm leaving soon I've had enough / I've jumped the cliff, I've made the drop / don't think twice now call the bluff / yes it's painful, yes it's rough / but I'll be gone before ida flop / so long guys I'll be alright