Leon Bridges’ ‘LEON’ Plays Tall As High Risk/High Reward Confessional Album (ALBUM REVIEW)

They say an artist spends their entire life making their debut album, but sometimes an artist isn’t in the headspace to create such a revealing project. While a debut album could be a proper introduction to an artist, it is not always the album that opens the emotional exploration into an auto-biographical creative space. It can take artists years to feel comfortable enough to tell tales of their youth and dig into a newfound vulnerability. In the case of acclaimed singer/songwriter and Texas native Leon Bridges, he took three albums. The artist, whose blues-inspired take on modern music toes the line between Stax-style soul and contemporary R&B, is set to release LEON, some of his most confessional music to date. The 13-song outing has Bridges diving into a bag of memories to capture the childlike innocence that shaped his mind while reconfiguring his established sound to implement whimsical jazz and infectious pop moments.

LEON is more than a concept album hellbent on both evoking positive and haunting memories. It is a collection of stories that reveal more about Bridges himself and unveil a new side of his songwriting abilities. With enough star power and critical acclaim under his belt, it only makes sense that Bridges would craft such an emotional album. All eyes are on him and his every move, providing a significant platform for his most honest music yet. This also adds to the fearless headspace Bridges must be in at the moment. To call this the height of his career would be criminal, considering the artist’s limitless potential, but Bridges only gets more popular with each release. LEON is a high-risk, high-reward type of album that not only pushes Bridges’ sonic abilities to new heights but begins to tell the story of how Bridges became the artist we have before us.

To some degree, it feels like we’re hearing Leon Bridges for the first time. Sure, his signature silky approach to vocals is as present as ever, and his devotion to Southern soul music is as intense as on previous projects. It’s the nuances of LEON that make this such an enticing and daring fourth LP. The production of the album transitions from soaring jazz influences to rootsy rock music, every sonic shift being tied together by Bridges’ folksy approach to storytelling. Memories always come back to us in fragments, which might explain the sprawling sonic terrain Bridges created to tell his life’s story. A moment like “Ghetto Honeybee” continues Bridges’ control over modern R&B while detailing his growth as a songwriter, while “Panther City” sees the artist delivering vivid imagery in a more pop-oriented light. LEON finds Bridges attempting to create a middle ground between where he sees his discography going sonically and exploring the stories of his past that inspired the album’s narrative.

With both ears pointing toward the future and his mind on his upbringing, Bridges adds another stunning LP to his colorful discography. LEON is staggering in its honesty and enthralling in its approach to such personal topics. The expansive sound allows Bridges’ portraits of himself to come to life and guide you through his journey from songwriting hopeful to Grammy-recognized star.