Album Review: Empathy For My Future Self

Empathy For My Future Self is without doubt one of the most interesting and original albums I have ever heard, it has that spark of creative genius you find in artists like Tom Waits, Mr Bungle or Ween where abstract absurdism and skillful precision are blended in such a way that you experience a cognitive dissonance between parts of your brain saying “none of this should work together” and others thinking “this is one of the best things that has ever happened to my ear drums”

To be quite honest I feel unqualified and even somewhat intimidated to try and write about what Leigh has made with this album, it’s like walking around thinking “la la la I’m so smart”, then meeting a space professor with a PhD in robot surgery and realising “you know what, maybe that doesn’t need to be part of my core identity…. la la la magnets are fun”. There are just so many layers of musical and creative complexity that my ADHD brain can’t focus long enough to form a cohesive thought.

With that disclaimer in mind…

This album is punk rock as fuck, It’s an aggressive slap in the face of musical and societal conformity backed up by masterful performances, moving lyrics and a kind of confident free expression that lets you glimpse into the hidden world of the artists inner creative mind.

Musically Leigh incorporates elements of hardcore industrial electronica, dark ethereal dream pop, new wave, synth wave, jazz and psychedelic rock yet at no point does it feel oversaturated or arrogant, each element fades into and out of the other in a way that feels like it should break the laws of physics and spawn the demon god of chaos. Anyone with some basic software or a few AI prompts can kitbash a musical chimera with relative ease, but to paint harmony with chaos in the way Leigh has done requires intimate knowledge of the source material, honed creative instincts and a unity of thought that threads a cohesive needle through an otherwise bewildering landscape.

Complementing the musicianship is Leigh’s skillful lyricism on the track I Still Love The Moon we get the line “I have opinions about long distance, the gist is the solar system fits betwixt us”, delivered over a jazzy, one dropped rootsy track, with an almost spoken word quality Leigh emphasises the assonant tones and creates a cascading effect after each word that draws you into the story being told.

The story itself is a large part of what makes this album so engaging, through her art Leigh is documenting her journey through transitioning and HRT as she acknowledges the boy she was and the woman she is becoming. I find this so fascinating from a creative and performance aspect, I would love to hear more about how her stage craft has changed, how HRT and developing a new voice has altered her vocal range and style.

The title track Empathy For My Future Self is an all instrumental post rock- psychedelic masterpiece, it starts with a sly and cheeky bass groove and progressively build into an all-out cacophony of wild tones and ecstatic rhythms. I love the juxtaposition of having the title track of such a lyrically dense story driven album completely instrumental, it feels as if the most important message Leigh is trying to convey can’t be expressed in words but only through pure creative expression and feel.

There is so much more I want to know about this artist, despite the fact she has been producing music for much of her life. I feel like this album represents a Dragon Ball Z like final form for her, her true power has been unleashed, and now she is only just beginning to realise its potential.