They told us smoking wasn’t cool; judging by Leire’s ‘Box Of Chesterfield’, ‘they’ were seriously wrong. This is a beautiful, haunting tale of anxiety, of existing rather than living, surviving whilst drowning; it’s a personal song, the sparse electronic music echoing behind Leire’s husky, plaintive vocal.
There’s a touch of Sia in the delivery, but the hushed verses give way to an emotive, soaring chorus which allows Leire to properly showcase her vocal talent. And that’s some serious talent, having already taken Leire from busking in Leicester Square to sharing stages with the likes of Tom Walker, Jake Bugg, and Rag’n’Bone Man,
‘Box Of Chesterfield’ is a slow-burn (no pun intended) beauty; Leire’s debut EP, telling ‘the truth about society’ and released later this year, can’t come soon enough. In the meantime, you can hear ‘Box Of Chesterfield’ here.
Review by Alex Holmes