Leverage Models, Shannon Fields most recent solo endeavor, released its self titled debut full length album on October 1. The album’s ten tracks are filled with poppy synth beats, heavy percussion and dramatic vocals. While Fields is the man behind the music, he did not hesitate to enlist the help of a number of talented friends on Leverage Models, rendering the album a beautiful balance between individual expression and diverse artistic collaboration.
Leverage Models’ most recent video “Night Falls on the General Assembly” was released last week. With it’s off kilter melody, theatrical vocals and the spooky piano solo that opens and closes the song, “Night Falls on the General Assembly” is probably the trippiest song on the album. While many Leverage Models tracks provide an instant hook, “General Assembly” opens in a more whimsical and mystical manner, building to a subtler hook that arrives at the chorus to open up the song. The esoteric lyrics (Found out love can be a baseball bat, by the jaw you had drawn one man out to this mob) definitely mirror its eerie atmosphere, and while it’s still as momentum driven and danceable as other tracks on the album, its execution is decidedly more subtle.
The music video for “General Assembly” somehow manages to get even weirder than the song itself. It begins with a suited businessman sitting stone faced in a chair on a roof somewhere in Brooklyn while his cohort dance behind him. Finally the man gets up and joins in on the fun. The rest of the video consists of various shots of the four dudes getting crazy on the roof while the shots become increasingly distorted. Eventually our protagonist calms down, (maybe his trip has ended?) and returns to his chair for the end of the video, whose trippy and eerie imagery and camera work make it the perfect coupling for the aesthetics of the track.
Leverage Models will be performing at AF’s showcase this Thursday, May 22, at Cameo Gallery along with along with Weeknight, Long Arms and Young Heel.
