Love & Harm Reviews:
With eight songs in 25 minutes, Love & Harm could be classified as an EP. However, the songwriting sweep of Austin's Leatherbag, aka Randy Reynolds, is so broad and enveloping, it's an epic listen. This is his third EP, following a longer-player last year, so maybe the short form is Reynolds' ideal. His tunes jump from the garage to the sound of summer and the back porch, each bristling with energy and vivid images. Velvet Underground rip "On Down the Line" opens the set full of chug and bluster, while pensive closer "Song to Simon" is proportionately subdued. The shift is remarkably sharp yet totally in character, a testament to the presence of a major tunesmith. Fans of like-minded mix-and-match popsters Brothers & Sisters and Li'l Cap'n Travis will find a lot to like on Love & Harm. If only there were more of it to love. ---Jim Caligiuri, Austin Chronicle
In twenty five minutes, Leatherbag generously offers an undeniably strong folk album supplemented with pop sensibility and some good old rock and roll. Each song is different, its own page in a book bound by thematic elements, instrumentation and Reynolds’ distinctively appealing voice. The stylistic contrasts of each song find a home on an album already full of contrast: Folk and rock. Familiar and new. Youth and maturity. Love and harm. ---bigdiction.net
The most refreshing thing about Reynolds' songwriting is his complete disregard for whatever everyone else seems to think is hip musically. His songs are both familiar and shockingly fresh thanks to this happy ignorance. The running theme is a love affair blessed between Lou Reed, Bob Dylan, Buddy Holly and the Kinks ... but Reynolds' unique approach and modern spit-polish makes all of these comparisons to older stuff moot. You'll never spend a moment feeling time-warped with these songs, and throughout the record it will become clearer just how much talent festers inside them. There is no doubt Randy Reynolds will be a huge force within the Austin music community sooner than later, and here's to hoping that truth extends beyond our little realm. ---austinist.com
Love and Harm is immediately accessible, but not simple. After a few spins, I noticed the attention to detail in backing vocals and layers of instrumentation. Thanks to SxSW for a chance encounter with yet another band flying under the radar... ---hearya.com
The point is, the fact that we can derive from the album Reynolds' struggle to find an original sound to pursue in place of the singer-songwriter genre of the past speaks to how thematically complex the album is, and just how well it depicts the very struggle of finding yourself with nowhere left to run, forced to plot a course and follow it. ---austinsound.net
Go here to read a recent interview with Leatherbag conducted by austinsound.net
Go here to listen to LB's live performance on KUT.
Records/mp3 Available Now at:
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End Of An Ear
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