Leah Flanagan
Leah Flanagan’s third studio album, Colour by Number, sparkles with pop gems, shimmering like beads of condensation against cold glass on a sultry Darwin evening.
Produced by Sarah Belkner and recorded by Richard “Richie” Belkner at Free Energy Device Studios in Sydney, Colour By Number is an assured maiden outing into deeply personal terrain for Flanagan. The record glimmers with nods to Sade, Bic Runga and Norah Jones while leaning back into the assuredness of Flanagan’s characteristically unhurried, deft vocal delivery.
Flanagan draws from the communities of cultures which have bolstered her proud Italian, Indigenous (Alyawarre) and Irish heritage to present songs steeped in a maturity and knowing that cannot be feigned. She skilfully synthesises long-formed thoughts on belonging, identity and self-knowing with her deep connection to her art, set against Belker’s playful and confident pop-informed choices.
While her individual accomplishments are many, Flanagan’s musical career continues to be interwoven by rich collaboration with some of Australia’s most luminary writers and performers including Archie Roach, Shane Howard, the Mission Songs Project, Yothu Yindi, The Spirit of Churaki and Buried Cuontry 1.5. She has also delivered a variety of works for major arts festivals including Leonard Bernstein’s Mass for the Adelaide Festival and her own work for stage, Midnight Muses, at the Adelaide Cabaret and Sydney Festivals. Flanagan’s song Speak Your Language was covered by singer-songwriter, Alice Skye for ABC Music’s Compilation Deadly Hearts #2.
Colour By Number is out now through Flanagan’s Darwin based, Indigenous owned and operated label Small Change Records.