Lorena Leigh [unedited] Music Review


Lorena Leigh

Independent Artist

@jocronin65

Photo taken by Jessica Waffles


These next three articles (including this one) will be showcasing musicians who use their art to showcase their other talents. Lorena is a perfect example of how much a single person with a little help can make.

I find multi-talented musicians are very underappreciated in the music industry, most musicians who are of this kind literally do everything you hear. They write the music, sometimes they play all the instruments, sometimes they also pull all the pieces together to make the song. The little help they get most of the time is when they send the demo tracks to a producer to mix it.

But Lorena Leigh does more than that, she doesn’t only create the sound from scratch… But she also creates what you see AND hear. In other words, if you watch any of her music videos then you’d be as surprised as I was to hear that she composed them all.

“I started out just because I’m a super low budget independent musician. But then like it started to become (something bigger than I thought it would be), and I actually can’t even afford the proper editors that I would trust to be like, here, take this. And trust that it’ll be awesome. Like I’ve tried free editors but I ended up being really disappointed. So then I just learned how to do it myself,” Lorena says.

I bring this up because I know exactly how stressful running things on your own can be, because this blog is ran entirely by myself with very little help.

Therefore, I find myself really appreciating small businesses, independent musicians, and people who are their own boss.

They might not always have the time to talk to others, but you definitely do get a chill down your spine when they say “yeah I made all that on my own”.


After dropping out of college at the University of Alabama following her first semester and attending a community college in Texas, Lorena found herself studying dance in New York at Alvin Ailey. She studied dance for a year, but had to have surgery after she injured her foot. “During that time a guy my sister was dating and was a musician gifted me a ukulele. I love songwriting and now I have a little portable instrument to write on all the time,” she says.

After recovering from her surgery she ended up finishing her degree at Pace University in Manhatten. She lived in New York for a total of 8 years.

She then went on tour with her music for a while. And was going to for a total of 2 years. But she decided to settle down and get her business of the ground. She moved back home in Fort Worth, Texas where she also visited her family in Ireland. And then… She met someone in Ireland, who she most recently married. “I just got married during quarantine because he came over like two days before they shut down borders because he was coming to visit and I was supposed to play SXSW in Austin and he was going to come for that to just like drink beers and go on the road with me. But obviously, he got stuck here. So we’re already engaged and we were like, let’s get married,” Lorena tells me.

All the while, Lorena has attracted an audience mostly in New York, Texas, and her hometown in Fort Worth with some fans in Ireland.


“I’m so grateful. I’m living at home and now I’m here with my family because I think back to when I was living in New York and paying rent and working two jobs, and with all (the coronavirus) situation, I just can’t imagine the stress levels (in the City). So I’m pretty lucky.”

~Lorena L.

I am very willing to stand on top of a soapbox and cause a scene in front of people who do not know about Lorena Leigh. I guess you could say I am a huge fan of hers if you want to label me as a “top fan”.

For the one’s who follow my social media pages, Lorena’s name probably sounds familar. That’s because I posted a teaser of her latest music video Tired to the Bone. I wanted to send that out because when I watched the music video that she sent me, I was so inspired by it.

Tired to the Bone started off being a “self soothing lullaby” when she started writing it in 2013. She didn’t add the bridge until the first time she started working with her producer Renesto Valenzuela. “I went to the studio and it was like our first night, like, OK, we’re going to start the album. We’re going to work on this track. And it was actually the night before the solar eclipse in 2017,” she tells me.

After recording the bridge, Renesto felt the song needed more. “Then I started playing around, and he was like… ‘What is that, it is super cool.’ And we were like okay let’s record it. And then it’s actually that demo that we did that we ended up using on the track for the album,” Lorena said.

When the track was finished the song became something more than just a lullaby. “At that time, I was going through a lot of heartbreak and I felt super crazy. I think it’s kind of like I was also living alone. And now that’s the first time in my life I didn’t have roommates,” she says.


“I feel like me as a kid, understood life and was more wiser than me as an adult who has gone through so many things. And then you forget what life is all about because you’re like you start to go crazy… (Tired to the Bone is) also super spiritual… Like trusting what your path is. Letting God help you figure it all out.”

~Lorena Leigh via Skype (5/16/2020)

For such a creative mind, the one question that comes to my mind is… What’s next?

“In February, I was in New York with my friends who played in my band, and we recorded a bunch of new stuff. So I actually have like two remixes coming out at the end of this month and then two singles coming out in July and August and then like three more singles in the fall is the release plan right now. So a lot of new music is coming up that is currently being mixed. And I’m planning some music videos for hopefully soon. But yeah, a lot of new stuff is coming out,” says Lorena.

So in other words, the grind continues.

But I don’t actually know what to expect, so keep your eyes peeled to Unedited and Lorena’s social medias so you don’t miss out on what the future looks like!


I would like to thank Lorena Leigh for keeping in touch with me, and I actually really enjoy talking to her. If you haven’t figured it out, the featured photo is of her legendary dog Oakley.


Lorena Leigh’s links:

Unedited Music Blog’s links:


Have a wonderful week, and remember to respect other people and stay safe. If you feel sick then stay home, and/or if you go into public wear a friggen mask.


Water Theory by Lorena Leigh (2019)

Overall: 5/5

Water Theory: 5/5

Headstrong: 5/5

What’s Up: 5/5

Top Song: Girls Like Me- J.Prep Remix (2020)


Chocolate [unedited]

Chocolate
Interview & Review
         Chocolate, a rather new metal band based in the UK, appeals to me just like Rise Against and At The Drive-In does. The raw emotion and the art in the video and the cover album is just amazing. “Jack [Drummer] he is a really good graphic designer and often comes up with the ideas for our artwork.” 
        Chocolate is made up of Billy (guitar/vocals and songwriter), Jack (drummer), and Noah (bassist) as a “post-hardcore” hard rock band from Hertford, UK. “(Billy) is heavily influenced by bands such as Lower Than Atlantis, Reuben, and Deftones. As for myself and Jack, we often write around Billy’s ideas so the songs can change a lot throughout the writing process depending on what each member brings to the table.” The group says that what really kick-started the idea to make a band is how much they really enjoyed going to live shows. 
     “We were all really inspired by early Nu metal music such as Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park and personally that passion for heavy music continued when first listening to bands such as Slipknot and Bring Me The Horizon. The energy when listening to these bands and when seeing them live really inspired me to begin playing and writing heavier music.” 
     So far the band has gotten an “consensus” of positivity from crowds at their live shows. “This is what drives us to keep making music.” When I asked Noah about how he felt about mosh pits and despite the rather violent actions of the pits, Noah says he doesn’t mind them happening at their shows. “I don’t mind mosh pits and I think most bands including ourselves are just looking to have a good time and hoping the audience does as well. If they want to mosh they can do and if they don’t want to they don’t have to, music is just about having a good time and I guess it’s up to the individual or band to whether they want to encourage or take part  in these behaviors.” 
         The group have big dreams for the future, Noah says he hopes to be able to say in 5 years “HELLO WEMBLEY!”. But for the near future, the band has finished their debut EP and are releasing it “as soon as possible” and are continuing to make new music down the road which they are excited to share.
         “We are also going to begin releasing our podcast show the ‘ChocPod’ and our vlogging show ‘ChocoVision’. It’s going to be very busy and a lot of content should be coming your way soon!” Noah tells me.
Overview: ★★★★☆
Ninth Cloud: ★★★★☆
Google