"Leah Andreone's debut CD Veiled shows off religious themes and vocals"

By Rebecca J. Lauck

There are many people who can say that they left their hometown and went to Los Angeles to find their dreams. Few of those have actually seen the dream recognized. But Leah Andreone is one of them.

She left San Diego and worked in Los Angeles as a waitress during the day and sang in clubs at night, when she overheard a table of people trying to find new talent.

She ran to her car, gave them a tape, and the next day the RCA representative was back to talk to her.

Things were history from there.

Veiled, Andreone's debut effort, is pretty much summed up by the first track, "It's Alright It's OK."

While on one hand, she has an incredible voice, the majority of it seems wasted on Mariah Carey-like soprano ability.

Her voice has a special little-girl-lost quality that I think listeners will find appealing, though.

Almost every song on Veiled has some allusion to God or religion, including lines from "Mother Tongue," which is one of the better songs on the album, where Andreone says, "I could lose everything surrendering to you, like praying to a god who doesn't want to know you."

My favorite song is "Who Are They To Say," mainly because of Neal Avron's trumpet. Lyrics include "Who said I can't alter my mind, who said the puzzle needs each piece?"

Another religious themed song is "Hell To Pay." Here she wonders if people knew that they would not be held accountable for their actions, then how far would they go?

The main chorus is "If there were no hell to pay, I wonder would you still need a god?" It sort of makes makes you think that perhaps people throughout the world would have no use for their conscience.

"Hell To Pay," which was written with help from her brother David Andreone, is also one of the best songs on the album, and Andreone could almost sell the record on just this song, but then yoou would have to listen to the other bad songs, too.

While she does have a truly remarkable voice, I think that Veiled could be a stepping stone for her into a better sound.

"Come Sunday Morning" is about eveything turning right on Sunday morning, and she calms down a bit on this one to make it another good track.

"Imagining You" is a pretty love song with a slow, simple acoustic guitar to accent the thought of two lovers thinking of each other.