Leona Naess: ‘Heavy Like Sunday’

When your stepmother is Diana Ross and you have been engaged to all American boy Ryan Adams the stakes are high if you are going to enter the music business, but Leona Naess is finally stepping out on her own.

Her lack of commercial success may be down to record label issues over the years, it may be that her high profile relationships overshadowed the music, or it may simply be that we’ve heard it all before. Naess’ career has spoken for itself over the last eight years leading up to her new album ‘Thirteen’ and, despite not being a household name like those around her, she managed to carve out a name of her own in the alt-folk arena.

‘Heavy Like Sunday’ is a delicately whimsical tune and comparisons to the elder stateswoman of country, Sheryl Crow, are understandable. However, the intimate moments on this track bring folkies like Vashti Bunyan closer to mind and uncover why her fans have taken her to heart. With its lo-fi sound and sentimentality it would be easy to deposit it in the box marked ‘coffee-house fodder’, but looking past the syrupy sweet chorus, Naess has produced a track that is more than just quaint.

Released on 2nd June 2008 by Blue Flowers.

Written by Carl Williams.