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 THE BEST ALBUM OF THE YEAR on the Village Voice's Pazz & Jop 2010 list! LOCAL TROUBADOR "Music, from the likes of the Brian Jonestown Massacre on the soundtrack and local troubador Lorraine Leckie in the film itself, is well curated." - Variety Magazine VarietyMagazine.com STEALS THE SHOW "[Lorraine Leckie] steals the show... [she] sings the folksy songs that tell the tale[s of the Lower East Side]." - Steve Lewis, Black Book Magazine “[She is] an Ontario folkie gal… naively likeable” - Village Voice SPOOKY, SEDUCTIVE "Martini Eyes is a spooky, seductive and a mesmerizing multifarious trip to the dark side... Lorriane waxes wicked in such cuts as "Don't Giggle at the Corpse" and "I Met A Man" - a torrid tale of a successful drug runner who put "T in her chee chee…" - Tom Semioli, Amplifier Magazine DELICIOUSLY GHOULISH "Lorraine Leckie's Martini Eyes Are Bloodshot and Sinister "For the better part of the last ten years, Lorraine Leckie has been writing dark, deadpan songs that owe as much to punk – at least the spirit of punk – as they do Americana. Her new album Martini Eyes is deliciously ghoulish, and it’s her best one yet. It’s her Nebraska: simple, spare arrangements, most of them with just vocals and acoustic guitar or piano. If Patti Smith had gone Nashville gothic instead of punk, she might have sounded something like this... Count this as a late addition to the rapidly closing list of the best albums of 2010." - Delarue, Lucid Culture "LORRAINE LECKIE AND HER DEMONS HAVE ATTITUDE ENOUGH FOR A MAXIMUM- SECURITY PRISON" - Henric Nielsen, Relix Magazine POIGNANT AND WORTH MANY LISTENS "Lorraine Leckie is dark and broody. Quirky, yet simple. The production throughout the album is beautifully stark, with arrangements consisting mostly of acoustic guitar and vocals. The piano-based "I Met a Man" has the feel of early Regina Specktor, while "Listen to the Girl" is full of Emily Jane White style melancholy. It is rare to find an artist who can stand up so well without musical adornments or lavish processing. Lorraine Leckie's Martini Eyes is short, poignant, and worth many listens." - Jen Levins, Origivation Magazine Origivation.com AN AUTHENTICALLY DARK JOURNEY "... an authentically dark journey down New York’s forbidden alleyways." - David Terra, Beyond Race Magazine REVOLUTIONARY "Such quietness is revolutionary..." - Steve Wishnia, The Indypendent  (Artwork from www.indypendent.org) PURE POETRY
 BEYOND RACE MAGAZINE Rating: 8.0 'On her third full length, Leckie proves she is ready to take her unique brand of folk rock with a dark side beyond the clubs of downtown Manhattan. While part of Leckie's charm stems from her rough-around-the-edges image, 'Getaway Car,' the album's beautiful piano-driven opener, allows her vocals to shine with heartfelt emotion as her ability to create a vivid picture is on par with any Broadway show soundtrack. Leckie's tongue-in-cheek, lyrical honesty is comparable in sentiment to Kimya Dawson, yet she exudes a poetic style all her own. The album picks up about half way though with 'You're So Cool,' chock full of grrrl rock energy, followed by 'Drivin'' which best showcases Leckie's storytelling juxtaposed against Hugh Pool's guitar interplay, culminating with a breathtaking chorus. With a little help from Brian Jonestown Massacre frontman, Anton Newcombe, Four Cold Angels appropriately closes with a rendition of the Pogue's 'Dirty Old Town.' -James DeVino THE TORONTO QUARTERLY CONCERT REVIEW: DECEMBER 4TH, 2008 REVIEWED BY DEANNA PRALL “... This inexplicable woman dressed in black with a definitive sparkle in her eye, and a skull laden guitar strap, sauntered onto the stage solo. Despite not having her full backup band from her album, ‘Lorraine Leckie & Her Demons’, she performed most of the songs from the record, a blend of folk and alternative rock, with the help of her acoustic guitar, keyboards, harmonica and foot controlled tambourine. Her songs range from ballads to eccentric rock songs, which are hypnotic in many ways, her ability to lure her audience in with her witty yet powerful lyrics set the tone for the evening. With musical influences ranging from Neil Young, PJ Harvey, Patti Smith, The Sex Pistols, Janis Joplin, and Lucinda Williams, there is an eclectic mix of sound that Lorraine Leckie creates to make her own. Her voice comes across as being angelic in many ways, but her lyrics justify the energy she puts forth on stage, as she is a definite force to be reckoned with.” LORRAINE LECKIE AND HER DEMONS WAS RANKED ON THE VILLAGE VOICE'S PAZZ JOP LIST of 2008!! JOHN BERKOWITZ @ THE CELEBRITY CAFE: Lorraine Leckie & Her Demons - Four Cold Angels - Four Cold Angels is the new release from Lorraine Leckie and Her Demons. The fresh diversity ripens into a glorious set of tracks that doesn’t wander off on tangents as it still has the basics and then branches off. Lorraine sets her grasp on a myriad of styles with the tinkering humming of the harmonica for that soothing country song to the hard rock steady guitar and banging drums for that good old fashioned rock n roll. Some artists tend to create a series of songs that end up following the same formula resulting in a bland repetitive sound for an hour. Four Cold Angels starts slow and with a grand build and an introduction of variation that snowballs into a poignant sound coming full circle at its conclusion. There’s sort of a European punk rhythm ingrained in the vocals that really give it a bouncy feel. The lyrics are certainly intriguing and thought provoking right from the start as it doesn’t delve into the standard lovesick numbers. The opening song is about a getaway car after the convincing swaying of knocking a place off. Lorraine Leckie and Her Demons offer an offbeat take and a real curveball that whizzes by bringing a kooky smile to your face. Even the closing track has a hint of Irish sentiment. Four Cold Angels has chants and praises of obscurity, which is new to hear. For the most part, it has a prancing and giddy feel to it that may ease into a leisurely stroll during the slower tracks. Lorraine and the gang whip up a whopper of tracks that sparks the imagination. MICHAEL @ WLUR 91.5 FM: “Good ol' no-nonsense folk rocker from this singer songwriter out of Ontario. Pretentiously claiming Baudelaire, Rimbaud, and Verlaine as interests, Leckie howls fragmented poetry... Start with 'Ontario' and 'You're So Cool.' ” AIKIN @ LICORICE-PIZZA.BLOGSPOT.COM: “Getaway Car” [is] one of my favorites... “Four Cold Angels,” shows off Leckie’s Neil Young influence on a country-tinged song...The mid-tempo songs... bring[s] to mind Holly Golightly as much as anything. The music sounds almost folkish, or country, but there’s more to it than simply strumming an acoustic guitar and crying in your beer. Listen close to the words...” DAVID N. PYLES @ ACOUSTICMUSIC.COM: “With an invigorating vocal style crossing Grace Slick with the aforementioned Smith... Leckie is a trip on the Lower East Side and in the Brooklyn clubs.” VILLAGE VOICE: “[She is] an Ontario folkie gal… naively likeable” ANTON NEWCOMBE / BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE: “She’s great…” AMPLIFIER MAGAZINE: “She’s seductive, salacious, serendipitous, selective, surly, sure-footed, symbiotic, stark, strong, shambolic, squat, scandalous, satirical, salient, salubrious, sage-like, shiny… and Canadian. Leckie’s tunes come highly recommended if you like: a female version of Neil Young, Shelby Lynne, Lucinda Williams, Ani DiFranco, Mary Lou Lord, and Michelle Shocked. Choice cut: “Lady Hurricane,” which could be mistaken for Grace Slick & Crazy Horse. MUSIC DISH: “The real deal.” CHUCK EDDY: “The one that sounds like AC/DC [Rainbow] is the best.” UNDERGROUND BEAT ONLINE: “This woman is a poet with a guitar and one that explores a darker side of humanity with traces of irony and sarcastic humor… a page out of the book of Lou Reed or Edgar Allen Poe.” MUSIC MAN: “Her lyrics and the way she delivers them are what stand out.” REBECA MOORE: “[Her voice] cut’s through the night like a purple razor blade. [She is] the real thing.” CD BABY (“Conscience”): “Like sitting on grassy fields with Harold and Maude trippin’ on some serious shrooms… dark and deep lyrics… like taking a trip down memory lane… there’s hope for somethin’ in this world of ours.” CD BABY (Tim Knauth): “In the tradition of Country Joe’s darkest hour, and Robin Hitchcock’s glory.” |
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BEYOND RACE MAGAZINE Flavor of the Week - September 07 SHADOWS OF THE NIGHT - Lorraine Leckie and Her Demons On a warm Monday night in late August, Lorraine Leckie and Her Demons played an early set to a packed room at the Mercury Lounge. While the majority of the audience has most likely been living in New York since the days of Ed Koch, the crowd's energy far surpassed that of the usual skinny-jean hipster gathering that the Mercury witnesses on most nights. Rocking with a Patti Smith-esque swagger, Leckie leads her group with a confident fearlessness of a woman in her forties who is happy with where she's at in life. Leckie is a dynamic frontwoman and her 'Demons' are agroup of talented musicians who bring to mind a New York makeover of Neil Young's style of country rock. Obviously familiar with a number of her loyal fans, Leckie entertained the crowd with comedic stage banter in between songs, often joking about how her demons and herself could use a drink. Leckie's lyrics are poetic and she sings them with conviction, resulting in honest, heartfelt songs that connect with her audience. Despite her poetic tendencies, this is undoubtedly rock music. Driven by some exceptional guitar playing by Hugh Pool, the tallest of the Demons, the group has managed to create a very unique sound. 'Fearless,' a song about drinking Johnnie Walker and searching for where you want to be, best exemplifies Leckie's ability to blend her poetic lyrics with the Demons ability to turn out well crafted rock songs. The packed room of faithful Demons fans even earned them an encore song, a rare feat for a band playing the second slot on a Monday at Mercury. On her MySpace page, Leckie states that she looks forward to someday playing the Bowery Ballroom (the Mercury Lounge's big brother for all you non-New Yorkers). With crowd pleasing sets and loyal fans, that's an accomplishment that seems to be right around the corner. For more information on Lorraine Leckie and Her Demons, check out www.lorraineleckie.com. Words by David Terra; Photo by Clayton Patterson |
Singer/songwriter Lorraine Leckie grew up in Ontario where “she had horses.” When she got to her teenage years, she realized she had to get out because she was “the town weirdo” and felt claustrophobic, so she moved to Toronto where she married the lead singer of the Viletones, whom according to Lorraine, were the Canadian version of the Sex Pistols. Eventually, they divorced and at age twenty, she decided to go to makeup school and flee to Milan to become a makeup artist full-time. As a makeup artist, she worked with celebrities like Anna Nicole Smith, Paul McCartney, and Jennifer Lopez.