Uh Huh Her: Common Reaction
As if born from the soundtrack of as-yet-unreleased popular movie, [Uh Huh Her]s debut album, Common Reaction, has all the necessary components to become big. Part of the reason for this predicted success is due to the profile of front woman Leisha Hailey, who plays the sexy and spunky Alice Pieszecki on Showtime's lesbian drama, The L Word. Despite her celebrity status, this isnt a case of actor makes record, Haileys history includes, while not the best bands out there, playing with the Murmurs and Gush.
The other half of Uh Huh Her, classically trained pianist Camila Gray, has also been in the music scene for a time and worked with Indy rock band Mellowdrone and various other artist like Kelly Osborne and Dr. Dre. Both Hailey and Gray sing on the album, their pretty voices weaving in and out of mellowed out dance beats laced with heavy electronic bursts and echoing melodies. Producer Al Clay, who worked with Blur, the Pixies and Pink, exerted his magic with the songs, helping to make them feel smooth and polished.
The name Uh Huh Her comes from the 2004 [PJ Harvey album ]of the same title, but that is where the similarities stop. Instead of Harveys throaty, anger-driven songs, Uh Huh Hers music consists of romantic lyrics and smoothly mixed synthesized notes from the keyboard. The resulting 11 tracks are a cross between the dance pop groups Everything but the Girl and Frou Frou. The song Everyone is an emotional epic emitting electronic bubbles of sound around wistful vocals. In the song Dreamer the singing sounds like it is pouring from above and slowly raining down beautiful words on the listener. The music also has an underscore of 1980s, Depeche Mode-like beats, especially in songs like Away From Here and Common Reaction.
Based in Los Angeles, Uh Huh Her sold out shows in London and New York after the release of an EP, I See Red, in 2007. While Hailey has said she considers herself as much a musician as she does an actress, it will be hard to separate the two and many girl-happy fans will flock to see the band on tour this fall, if for anything, to see her. Of course, in a world of connections and names, Haileys popularity can only help the band come out more.