Leslie Mendelson - Love & Murder

Leslie Mendelson's 'Love & Murder' is a stirring work instilled with emotional depth.

The 2017 studio effort was the long-awaited follow up to her Grammy Award-nominated debut, 'Swan Feathers'. Produced by Mark Howard (Bob Dylan, Lucinda Williams), 'Love & Murder' is a sparse, raw collection of ten acoustic-based songs. Opening with Jericho, a haunting numberthat sets the tone for what's to come, it makes clear that the album lies more withindarker spaces that artists like Sharon Van Etten, Lana Del Rey and Dusty Springfieldinhabit. Songs like Murder Me, Coney Island, and Chasing the Thrill find Leslie exploring loss in ways that feel personal and metaphorical, where the stories within aremultifaceted. She also recorded three covers: the classic-country infused Cry, CryDarlin', a take on Bob Dylan's classic Just Like a Woman, played on the ukulele, anda duet with The Grateful Dead's Bob Weir on Roy Orbison's Blue Bayou. In fact,Mendelson was unwittingly adopted by the West Coast jam scene after Weir heard hertake on Friend of the Devil and recruited her to perform with him. On 'Love & Murder', however, Leslie Mendelson offers a different side of her artistry thatisn't present in her early work or recent collaborations. This collection is just about thesongs and my voice, she says. That's what people can connect with. It shows where Iam right now as an artist and where I want to go.