Raised in Phoenix, Nashville based artist Leah Nobel has been wowing listeners since her late teens when she began to write songs and perform at open mics. Continuing to hone her skills through college in Flagstaff and later in Austin Texas, Leah Nobel found her stride blending elements from Folk, Pop and Alternative into lyrically driven, emotionally evocative tunes. Whether it is for this project or for her Alt-Pop alter ego HAEL, one thing is for sure – Leah Nobel knows how to craft a tune.
Now, years in the making, Leah Nobel is preparing to release her new album, “Running in Borrowed Shoes”. Having already released two singles from the project, Leah has most recently unleashed, “Slow Burn”, a beautiful, acoustic, sensitive tune that puts her songwriting front and center. With nothing more than acoustic guitar and some strings to fill the background, Leah Nobel delivers a memorable performance that I personally can not get enough of.
What makes the upcoming album such a cool and unique project is how Leah Nobel decided to approach it. An artist who always looks to pull her inspiration directly from the world around her, Leah sat down and interviewed over 100 people from diverse backgrounds and used the dialogue from the interviews to craft the songs that would become the album. Creating what she is calling a “hybrid creative endeavor,” Leah Nobel has found a way to mix music with journalism in a way that I have yet to see duplicated.
About the process she says, “I specifically chose questions that would bypass small talk, which meant my interviewee and I were plunged into vulnerability off the bat. Sometimes it was uncomfortable for both of us- but that’s where the magic happens. Many people thought their lives weren’t ‘exciting enough’ to warrant an interview. But I wasn’t ever looking for excitement, I was looking for truth.”
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