As compelling as they are painfully honest and raw, the lyrics that David Leask sings to us in his new single “When You Think No One Loves You” are only one of the many components in the track that can be described as being evocative, but there are some moments in the song, such as in the climax of its gentle hook, where the words are all that we can focus on. In this latest release, Leask unfurls a frigid set of poetic lines that cascade from his lips effortlessly, only to crash into us with the full force of a tornado. He’s got nothing to hide here, and in wearing his heart of his sleeve, he reintroduces us to the brilliance of the classic Canadian vocal ballad itself.
Despite the somber tone of the words, the melodic components in “When You Think No One Loves You” are very charming and embracive, pulsating under the command of a piano that is as gorgeous as the vocal is. The contrast adds a certain surrealism to the big picture of the song that wouldn’t have been here otherwise, and though the video is a lot more straightforward in design than the composition is on its own, it doesn’t make the content feel bloated or over-dramatized at all. I’d love to hear a version of this song on guitar, because something tells me that it would sound just as incredible regardless of the instrument Leask utilizes as a sonic canvas.
Most of us have come to expect a lot from David Leask over the years, but he’s giving us the goods again in “When You Think No One Loves You” and serving up plenty of reasons to believe that he’s got a lot of artistry still left to share with the world. His gift gets the right setting to make almost any pop fan feel swept away by his unique sound, and though it’s possible that nothing could compare to seeing him in a concert hall alongside all of the electric energy that a packed venue creates, we get a pretty good idea of what that would feel like in this latest slice of life from the studio.
Jodi Marxbury