Natural Mania by Leon Banks – Single Review
York rocker Leon Banks hasn’t stopped. Since last summer, he’s been busy in the studio, cutting track after track, and putting out new music.
And he’s back again with ‘Natural Mania’. This time around, he’s gone for a full-on shiny-poppy-indie kind of record. One that plucks a few strings. One that taps on the snare. And a song that brings a feel-good baggy kind of sound along with it.
“A track that repeats in your head”
For me, the track is lazy-upbeat. It’s ‘summery’. It’s just over four minutes of early 90s sounding stuff that I could easily have on in the background as I sink a few bottles of beer in the sun and reminisce. The yearning vocal that Banks has applied to quite a few of his compositions sails through the entire song, with a mostly reflective lyric.
What I’ve found with Banks’ releases over the last 12 months, is that whatever the tempo and whatever the mood, he conjures up a track that goes round and round, time and again in your head. Ear-worms galore. And ‘Natural Mania’ isn’t any different. It’s got something in it that makes you hit repeat, and slide it into your playlist.
But don’t get comfortable in the niceties of ‘Natural Mania’. The last 90 seconds of the track erupts. And that’s when the crunching guitar riffs of his that I’ve grown to be a huge fan of tumble out of the speaker and grind their way into your eardrums. In fact, I could have done with another two minutes of this one. The juxtaposition of the latter and the earlier sound…it’s a good, welcome clash of sound.
I’ve been a big fan of previous releases ‘Medicine We Share’ and ‘Sunset In The Dark’. but, for me, this one tops both of them. I’m hoping that there’s going to be one or two chances to see him perform live now restrictions seem to be easing. And if he plays his latest stuff, including this, he’s sure to send a crowd home happy. Good work again, Mr Banks.
‘Natural Mania’ is available to listen to here on Spotify; and it’s available on YouTube and all good streaming services.
